Our Place in Time
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Post-series, my Pendulum Swings verse. Penguin World is almost ready to open. But in-between final tests and the arrival of some of the penguins, Lector is having strange dreams of ancestors of the Big Five in Atlantis. On top of that, renegade Duel Monsters from their dimension are threatening war and the return of the great Leviathan.
1. Chapter 1

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Our Place in Time**

**By Lucky_Ladybug**

**Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This takes place in my post-series **_**Pendulum Swings**_** verse, which redeems the Big Five and Yami Bakura. The idea of the Big Five wanting to legally adopt each other as family was inspired by Crystal Rose of Pollux. Other major story inspiration comes from watching season 4 some more. Thanks to Azalea542 for various advice throughout!**

**Chapter One**

_The scene was cold, harsh. From the rows of beings lined up and facing each other, it was obviously a battle about to begin—but a battle unlike any other. Aside from one human, one side consisted entirely of horroresque creatures bearing toothy grins and what looked like prototype Duel Disks. The other side had two humans in the lead, followed by several more humans and a cacophony of Duel Monsters of all sizes and types._

"_Come on!" a familiar, deep voice exclaimed. "We have to get out of here now!" A man who looked like Charles Gansley dressed in ancient clothes ran around the side of a rock, his eyes filled with panic and fear._

_Four other men chased after him._

"_I still don't know that this is the right decision," one who resembled Thomas Johnson frowned._

"_Look at it logically," a Robert Nesbitt lookalike retorted. "They're outnumbered! We've seen what that evil stone can do. Our presence won't make a positive difference. Besides, there's something much more pressing we have to do."_

"_I guess you're right," said an Adrian Crump double. "But if it was up to him, he'd be fighting himself!"_

_A small form suddenly streaked past the men, desperately running for the battle. Instead he was scooped up by the Démas Lector counterpart. Undaunted, the child screamed, desperately struggling to get out of the man's arms. "No! Critias!" He stretched out a frantic hand._

"_We have to go!" the pseudo Lector exclaimed. "You know Critias wouldn't want you in the middle of all that!"_

_The group ran through a secret passageway into a darkened cave. The boy was clutching at his caretaker with one hand while still reaching out with the other. Tears filled his eyes as the stone wall slammed shut with a bang._

"_Critias," he whispered, as his heartbroken voice echoed off the cave's sides._

Lector sat straight up in bed, his heart pounding. "What was that?" he gasped. He had had plenty of nightmares, but this was something else, something different. It had felt more like a vision, a scene from a distant past. But why on Earth would he dream about ancient versions of the Big Five all being there at the battle?!

He muttered to himself as he got out of bed. If he wasn't having nightmarish remembrances of the suffering they had been through, he was sleepwalking as the Purple Avenger in search of other dimensional counterparts of his friends who were suffering. And if not that, he was dreaming about ancient versions of all of them and an unknown child. Would he ever really be allowed a decent sleep?

He shuffled into the hall, hoping to find any of the others awake. He was gratified to see Gansley sitting at a small table and looking resigned and weary to not be asleep. The older man looked up, not entirely surprised to see Lector either. "You can't sleep either, eh?" he greeted.

"Unfortunately." Lector sank down at the other chair.

"Worrying about how the mini-submarine tests at Penguin World will go today? The arrival of our first penguins? Or bad dreams again?"

"Let's say bizarre dreams." Lector briefly hesitated before beginning to relay the dream's contents. He wanted to share them, really; that was why he had come looking for one of the others. And yet it was so outlandish that he really felt embarrassed to even be talking about it, even though he knew the others would never put him down for it.

Indeed, Gansley just listened, looking thoughtful. At the conclusion, he leaned back, pondering on what Lector had relayed to him.

"I don't know what to make of it," Lector said tiredly. "Would my mind have really made something like this up?"

"The mind can do outlandish things," Gansley intoned. "On the other hand, what if it actually is a scene from the past?"

"We know we had ancestors in Egypt," Lector said. "But that didn't look like Egypt."

"It certainly didn't sound like Egypt," Gansley agreed.

"And all of you except me had light skin, like here," Lector said. "I would assume that in Egypt, all of our ancestors had tan skin."

"Perhaps," Gansley mused. "Or perhaps some of them came from other lands. Kaiba's ancestor was no doubt infuriated by the racial prejudice against that girl who had light skin. He may have tried to change public opinion by hiring some protectors of different races. Eh. It doesn't really matter now."

Lector sighed. "I'm just trying to figure out what was going on in my dream and where it was."

"Were there any names mentioned?" Gansley asked.

"Just Critias," Lector said. "That means nothing to me."

"Nor to me," Gansley mused.

For a moment they just sat in silence, pondering on the oddity. But there didn't seem to be any answers to be had. Lector really wanted to believe it was just a dream anyway, even though it seemed unlikely, so he tried to change the topic.

"I'm surprised Nesbitt isn't wide-awake, considering that his invention will be front and center tomorrow."

"He might very well be wide-awake and just hasn't come out of his room yet," Gansley said. "And Crump is no doubt excitedly anticipating our first batch of penguins."

Lector gave a fond smirk. "No doubt.

"And what about you?" he wondered. "What got you up?"

"I'm not even fully sure," Gansley said. "Suddenly I was just awake—no memory of dreaming, no strange sounds that disturbed me. . . ." He shook his head. "And I can't say I was terribly surprised to see you getting up."

"Yes, I suppose my sleep problems are almost legendary by now," Lector drawled with a tired sigh. "I wonder if that other me has such trouble as well."

"Well, whether he does or not, he and you both have some very devoted friends to help out wherever needed," Gansley commented.

Lector smiled a bit. ". . . That other Gansley . . . he told his Lector that he saw him as a son. . . ."

"Yes, he did," Gansley said.

"They're only fifteen years apart in age," Lector said. "It doesn't seem strange to you?"

"Heh. The other me and I probably look older than we actually are," Gansley pointed out. "And feel older."

"And you wouldn't consider it an insult if one of us told you that you're like a father to him?" Lector asked.

Gansley gave him a crooked smile. "More than one of you already did."

Lector's eyes flickered in his surprise. "We did?!"

Gansley nodded. "Crump has told me I'm 'Team Dad.' And after you ran yourself ragged blasting every enemy in sight with your ring during the Reshef mess, you deliriously reached up to me and called 'Father.' I thought at first that you were remembering when your father had been kind to you and that you were thinking of him. Later I started to wonder more seriously if I was wrong and you had actually meant me."

Lector averted his gaze. "I don't remember that, but I'm sure I did." He looked back to Gansley. "You honestly are like a father, Gansley. I've thought of you like that for a long time. I only feel that way all the more now that my actual father betrayed me. You are a far better father to me than he was."

"And yet ironically, had you been my son, I probably would have raised you to be ruthless and cold, like me," Gansley said. "Your father raised you to be a man of honor, yet he himself had none." He smiled more. "But I am honored to be considered like your father. You are like a son to me. So are Nesbitt and Johnson."

"What about Crump?" Lector wondered.

"Crump . . . I'm not sure how I think of Crump, being that he's only five years younger than me," Gansley said in a bit of amusement. "Of course, every one of you is a dear friend to me, and my family."

"And I am glad of that as well," Lector said.

"You know somethin' I've been thinkin'?"

They both jumped a mile. Crump had emerged from his room, yawning yet seeming quite awake. Nesbitt and Johnson were coming out of their rooms as well.

"What is it, Crump?" Gansley asked.

"Well, we know we're all family," Crump said. "I've kinda been wondering off and on if we might like to make that official. Like, legally adopting each other as family, you know?"

"Hmm. An interesting idea." Gansley looked thoughtful. "I hadn't thought of it, but it does sound appealing."

"Especially when we never know what's going to come at us next," Johnson said. "It might be nice to do it during a peaceful time."

"I would like that," Nesbitt spoke up.

"I certainly do," Lector said. "I'm all for it."

"As am I," Gansley said. "Let's do it."

"Great!" Crump chirped.

Nesbitt looked around at them. "So why are we all up anyway?"

"Nerves about tomorrow?" Gansley suggested. He looked to Crump. "Or excitement in your case, Crump?"

"I am pretty pumped," Crump said. "We're finally getting some of the penguins!"

"He's like a child on Christmas Eve," Johnson remarked.

"Of course," Gansley said in amusement.

Lector gave a tired smile. "I still don't know what to make of why I'm up. . . ."

"Not more sleepwalking!" Crump yelped.

"Thankfully, no," Lector said. "But it _is_ something strange."

For the second time he relayed his bizarre dream. Crump, Nesbitt, and Johnson listened, bewildered.

"You sure have the doozies," Crump exclaimed at the end.

"Don't I know it," Lector sighed.

"That Critias thing . . . that sounds familiar to me, but I can't place it right now," Crump went on. He yawned. "Maybe after some more sleep. . . ."

"Then let's all try, shall we?" Gansley said. "We need to be in top form for the tests."

Everyone agreed, and started to shuffle off to their rooms. Lector caught up with Nesbitt. "_Are_ you nervous about tomorrow?" he asked. "You haven't really said."

Nesbitt shrugged, looking a little embarrassed. "Mostly I'm confident that everything will be fine. I know I'm a good engineer and I'm always proud of my work. But there's always a part of me that worries about things going wrong. I could have made a miscalculation that would cause a grave error . . . even though I don't really think so."

"I don't think so either," Lector said, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"And the first penguins are showing up sooner than expected because they need to be relocated right away," Nesbitt continued. "I don't know if I'm ready for that either."

"I'm not sure myself," Lector said. "But the facility is ready to receive them, and Crump certainly is. He'll be dealing with them the most."

Nesbitt nodded. "Well . . . I guess we'd better try to get to bed, like Gansley said. We'll deal with whatever happens when it happens."

Lector gave an encouraging nod. "Of course we will."

xxxx

The rest of the night passed peacefully, and without any more bizarre dreams for any of them. When they arrived at Penguin World after a hasty breakfast, they found Yugi and everyone else waiting for them.

"Hi, guys!" Yugi beamed.

"You all came for the tests?" Nesbitt said in surprise.

"We wouldn't miss it!" Téa said with a thumbs-up. "We know the park isn't officially open yet, but we thought you might make exceptions for us."

"Of course," Gansley said. It was strange, how close they had all become over the past year. Yugi and the others fully accepted the Big Five as part of the extended group, and the Big Five were happy with that. They considered the kids their friends too.

"I'm here too!" Mokuba beamed. "Seto was too busy, but I wanted to make time to come!"

Lector smiled. "I'm glad you came, Mokuba."

Nesbitt himself made the first test as a passenger. The miniature submarine worked perfectly, diving under the pond, allowing for observation through the heavily reinforced windshield, and featuring a periscope for close-up view. He returned to the surface with pride shining in his eyes. "Everything is working perfectly," he announced.

"Awesome!" Joey grinned. "Do we get to test it too?"

"Of course," Nesbitt said. "It's built to hold up to twelve people at a time."

The rest of the Big Five, as well as Yugi and the others, were all impressed with the machine. Several tests were made, including taking it around the length of the pond, and all was just as it should be.

"I knew you'd make something amazing!" Crump exclaimed.

"You should be very proud," Lector smiled.

"And I'm sure he is," Johnson half-quipped.

Gansley smiled too. "I imagine this will be among the most popular attractions."

Nesbitt was definitely soaking up the praise. "I always strive for perfection," he said.

"And you've got it!" Téa said. "This is so cool!"

Mokuba was definitely impressed too. "Are you planning to make more of these?" he asked. "I know it's gonna be super popular and everybody's gonna want to ride it! With only twelve seats, the lines are gonna be ginormous!"

"For now it's just one to try out how well it works," Nesbitt said, "but I imagine there will be more later."

Crump nodded. "However many can safely fit in here without crowding the penguins," he said. "Maybe we'll end up having more than one pond so we can have more subs!"

Serenity looked thoughtful. "I wish we had some penguins to watch when we're under the water now," she mused.

"You will soon!" Crump said. "The rescue place had to hurry and relocate the first batch of penguins they were sending over. They're coming today!"

"Is that enough time?" Bakura asked in concern.

Lector nodded. "Thankfully, we're ready."

The penguins arrived while Yugi and the rest were still there. Most immediately leaped into the water and started swimming or jumping. A few wandered into the indoor enclosures and happily waddled amid the simulated snow and ice.

"Well, so far, so good," Johnson said in relief.

". . . They really are cute," Téa said. "I kind of understand more why Crump is so nuts about them."

"So what's the story behind this batch?" Tristan wondered. "I mean, why aren't they in Antarctica, why are they coming here, that kind of thing."

Crump was just standing and watching his beloved birds in proud awe. "Habitats got destroyed, mostly," he said. "Stupid global warming."

Nesbitt, who didn't really believe so much in global warming, or climate change, or whatever people wanted to call it, didn't comment. He and Crump had gotten into that argument many times in the past and he certainly didn't want to re-hash it here.

"And some of them got caught in oil spills or nets," Crump continued. "These guys were found in various locations, hurt and some of them needing nourishment they couldn't find."

The handler nodded. "Penguins in captivity is always a controversial topic, but most of the penguins in this batch need it because for one reason or another, they can't be returned to the wild due to their injuries. Then there's a few we just want to be able to study up close, and a few more we're hoping to use to expand the number of them out there. The Macaroni Penguin is threatened, and the Emperor Penguin is getting there."

"Macaroni?!" Joey stared.

"It's got nothing to do with pasta," Crump said.

The handler nodded. "See those penguins with the fancy yellow crests on the rocks?"

Téa couldn't refrain from a shiver. "Okay, those guys look like thin, black-and-white versions of Nightmare Penguin."

Crump gave her a sympathetic look. He definitely regretted how he had terrorized her. "Well, when they were named, those crests looked like fancy, flamboyant stuff they called 'macaroni,'" he explained. "That's what the song _Yankee Doodle _is talking about too."

"That song never did make any sense to me," Joey said. "Now it does!"

Crump looked around. "So, is that everybody?"

"One more," the handler said. "He's being lazy today." She rapped on the side of the van. "Okay, you. Come on out! Everybody else is already exploring!"

Nesbitt stared in shock as the last penguin finally emerged . . . and it was almost as tall as Yugi and Mokuba. "What the . . . ?!"

The huge penguin gave him a deadpan look, opened its beak and flapped its flightless wings, and screeched. Nesbitt jumped back.

The handler looked amused. "You've never seen an Emperor Penguin before? They grow up to four feet in height."

". . . I've never seen any penguins up close until today," Nesbitt admitted, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Here he was, helping to open and run a penguin sanctuary, and he had never met the birds before. Then again, most of the others were in the same position.

"This is George," the handler told him.

"Oh. The one who likes offices," Nesbitt grunted.

"We never did figure out how he kept escaping," she said with a laugh, "but we'd be minding our own business and he'd come walking in like he owned the place."

"Then he'll probably pull that stunt on us too," Nesbitt said.

"Probably," the handler said. "Just remember, Emperor Penguins start getting uncomfortable if temperatures go past about 68 degrees Fahrenheit."

"We're not going to have to keep the offices cold, are we?" Lector exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

"It should be fine," the handler said. "George walks around, explores everything, and goes back to the enclosure when he gets too hot."

"I would love to know how he always gets out," Téa commented.

"So would we," the handler chuckled. "Let us know if you find out."

For some time everyone observed the various penguins and their various antics. Joey's jaw dropped when they started leaping out of the water and onto the simulated snow in the indoor enclosures. "How the heck do they jump that high?!" he exclaimed.

"Penguins are really talented," Crump chirped. "Wait'll you see what else they can do!"

"I don't see the infamous blue penguins you were talking about," Gansley grunted.

"Well, they're more into warmer weather and hang out in New Zealand and Australia," Crump admitted. "For the time being, we're focusing on the kinds of penguins who like it colder. But there's nothing to say we couldn't get the other kinds eventually too!"

Joey blinked at him. "There's penguins that like warm weather?"

"Yeah, a whole bunch of them!" Crump exclaimed. "What's really weird for a lot of people to think about is that there's actually more warm-weather penguin species than cold-weather penguin species!"

"Eh?" Joey stared. "That's weird."

While Crump started elaborating on his knowledge of warm-weather penguins, Yugi suddenly got distracted by a message coming in on his phone. He looked down at it in surprise.

"What is it?" Tristan asked.

"It's from Rebecca," Yugi told him. "She said she and her grandfather are coming up here to talk about a new discovery he's made about Atlantis. And Mako is with them!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Crump stopped talking when he realized Yugi was distracted. "What's up?" he asked.

"Oh . . . some friends are going to be visiting," Yugi said. "You remember Mako, of course, and the Hawkins family."

"Of course," Gansley said.

"Evangeline said Mr. Tsunami stayed in New Orleans for another week or so and then left for Los Angeles," Lector said. "Apparently he felt that something in that notebook of his father's was pointing to Los Angeles."

"I wonder what it was," Téa said.

"I also wonder why he's coming up with the Hawkins," Yugi said. "Of course, it'll be great to see them all," he quickly added. "I know Rebecca's been disappointed we haven't made it down there yet."

"And you said something about Atlantis." Crump snapped his fingers. "That's where the name Critias comes from! It was a thing Plato wrote about Atlantis!"

"It's also a way cool warrior guy who helped us save the world," Joey said.

"What's this about Critias?" Mokuba asked Crump. "He looked like Seto. . . ."

Before Lector could explain about his bizarre dream, Solomon pulled up in his truck. To everyone's surprise, he had the guests with him.

"Yugi!" Rebecca squealed. She hopped out of the cab and glomped him.

Yugi went red. "Uh, hi, Rebecca," he stammered. "I thought you were writing from Los Angeles. . . ."

"I was writing from here," Rebecca beamed. "We went to see your grandpa and he said you were here. So we came here!"

Solomon chuckled. "I was quite surprised myself when they all turned up on our doorstep!"

Mako leaped out of the flatbed. "Hi, my friends!" he greeted with a wave. "So this is the Penguin World we've heard so much about?"

"This is it!" Crump grinned. "Of course, we're still not ready to open yet, but we're almost there now! We've even got some of the penguins!"

"Marvelous!" Mako said.

George gave him a deadpan look but didn't screech.

Mako bent down to be more at his eye level. "Well, hello there," he greeted.

"That's George," Duke told him.

George tilted his head to the side, blinked, and started to preen his feathers.

Joey looked to the handler. "So, is it a good thing or a bad thing when he yells or doesn't yell?" he asked in an undertone.

"We're still not sure," she whispered back. "But he looks like he feels pretty content right now."

"Naturally," Mako said. "I have a way with all the creatures of the sea." He petted George and straightened.

Yugi looked to Professor Hawkins. "Hi, Professor," he greeted. "Rebecca said you'd found out something new about Atlantis. It must have been really big to bring you guys out here!"

"I like to think so," Professor Hawkins agreed. "I'm very excited about it."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Arthur!" Solomon exclaimed. "How about we go inside one of these buildings and you tell us all about it?"

"I can start telling you as we're walking," Professor Hawkins replied. They all started to walk, including George. "I decided to dive around in the area where the Orichalcos Temple went down to see if I could find anything else about Atlantis, or to even find the ancient city itself again. I ended up finding Atlantis and some more carvings, apparently depicting the Legendary Knight Critias with five men who served him." He looked to the Big Five. "I must say, they all resembled you five."

"Seriously?!" Crump yelped.

Lector stopped walking, stunned. "Did you find out what happened to those men?"

"Not from those carvings, no," Professor Hawkins replied, "but then I went into the Orichalcos Temple, which was apparently built after Atlantis sank. Dartz carved into the wall that the five men fled the Battle of Atlantis and had been considered cowards ever since."

Nesbitt grunted. "You came all the way out here to tell us we had cowardly ancestors?"

"There is more," Mako said. "I met Professor Hawkins and Rebecca and they told me about what happened when Dartz tried to destroy the world." He clenched a fist. "They told me how he killed the loved ones of the men he tricked into working for him . . . that for one of them, he sent a monstrous tidal wave. I am furious that he dared to manipulate the mighty ocean waters! But then I started to wonder if that man Raphael was the only person with whom he tried such an outrage."

Téa gasped. "Oh no. . . . You wonder if he sent the tidal wave against you and your dad. . . ."

"Exactly!" Mako cried. "It would have been around the same time he was searching for others to recruit. So I had to come here to ask him. My new friends told me he lives here."

"Yeah, he does," Yugi agreed. "But he's free of the Orichalcos now. When he did all those horrible things, it was because the Orichalcos was poisoning his mind. It corrupted him for ten thousand years!"

Mako frowned. "That is indeed a treacherous fate. But are you saying that in his right mind he's not the same person?"

"He's not at all," Atem said. "He's a noble and good man. I cannot imagine the weight of the burden he bears because of all he did."

Lector looked to Professor Hawkins. "There wasn't anything else in those carvings?" he asked. "What about a child?"

The professor blinked in surprise. "I did see something in the Atlantean carvings about Sir Critias having a younger brother," he said, "but it didn't say anything else about him."

"No way," Mokuba gasped. "So I had an ancestor back then too?"

"For that matter, Critias is apparently your ancestor," Gansley said to him.

"Yeah, but I meant an ancestor that looks like me," Mokuba said. "There really isn't one in Egypt; that Khu guy is apparently my counterpart back there." He shuddered. "So not cool."

"Why did you ask about a younger brother?" Professor Hawkins queried, looking to Lector.

The Southerner looked caught. He really didn't want to blurt out about a bizarre dream he'd had to someone he'd only met once. "I just wondered," he hurriedly replied. "Mokuba just got through telling us that this Critias looks like Mr. Kaiba, so I couldn't help being curious as to whether he had a younger brother like Mokuba."

"Ah, I see," Professor Hawkins nodded.

"But . . . uh . . . what if those guys really weren't being cowards when they left?" Crump stammered. "What if they had a good reason for leaving?"

Rebecca frowned. "What kind of reason could they have? They just didn't want to die, that's all."

"Even if that was all, you couldn't blame them for that," Johnson said.

"They had a duty to stay with Critias," Rebecca retorted. "Whether they were scared or not, they shouldn't have let that interfere!"

"Maybe even if they were scared, that wasn't their reason," Lector said.

Gansley looked back and forth between Lector and Crump. They clearly had an idea in mind, one that he was picking up on from knowing Lector's dream—and he had to admit, it sounded plausible to him. That is, if he was going to believe Lector's dream was real and not just a dream. He hadn't been sure what to think at first, but now that the professor had brought his news to them it seemed too much of a coincidence. Lector's dream likely had shown a real scene from the past.

"This younger brother of the knight's wasn't mentioned anywhere in the Orichalcos Temple?" he asked.

"Not at all," Professor Hawkins said. "It would seem he slipped quite out of sight."

"He probably died in the Battle of Atlantis," Rebecca frowned.

". . . Unless someone took him away from there before the fighting even began," Nesbitt spoke.

Professor Hawkins stared. "Say now, do you really not know anything about this?"

"Nothing definite, Sir," Lector said. "We're just asking questions."

"I know you wouldn't like thinkin' your ancestors were yellow or something," Joey said. "But you really sound like you know something."

"How could we?" Gansley grunted.

"It looks like this is something else we should all ask Dartz," Mokuba spoke up. "Maybe he'd know!"

"Works for me," Joey shrugged.

Everyone reached the building and stopped walking. George walked into Nesbitt and shrieked.

Nesbitt flinched. "Does he hate me or something?"

"He's probably just saying Hello," Crump said. "Or he wants you to pay attention to him."

"I was looking right at him before and he screamed in my face," Nesbitt retorted.

Lector laid a hand on Nesbitt's shoulder. He could relate to this. He remembered having similar feelings when his nephews and later, Noa, started treating him poorly. In his case, his nephews had certainly hated him even if Noa really hadn't.

"George is a character," the handler said. "But he's a good guy." She patted the large bird. "Penguins make sounds like that as a form of communication."

"That's obvious," Nesbitt shot back. "What I want to know is what he's communicating!"

"He might be telling you he's claiming this as his territory," the handler told him. "Or like Mr. Crump said, it could be Hello. Penguins make sounds for both reasons, and many more. What he did when he got out of the van was similar to the territorial call. But the body language can also mean he wants to avoid confrontation."

"What about when he walked into me?" Nesbitt asked.

"He might have been saying 'Excuse you.'" The handler still looked amused. "George has always been unique. He's been in captivity from a very young age and has always liked trying to imitate the humans he's with. Penguins usually do like humans and enjoy being around them because they have no natural land predators and they don't see humans as threats." She looked to Nesbitt. "So I think you can be pretty sure he likes you. He has no reason not to."

Nesbitt slowly nodded. "I see."

Crump patted George on the back. "Well . . . I guess we'd better get him settled in at his new home and then go see Dartz."

"Do you really feel like tearing yourself away from the penguins so soon?" Gansley asked.

". . . Not really," Crump admitted, "but I do wanna know what Dartz has to say about these . . . Atlantean ancestors of ours or whoever they are."

Nesbitt pondered for a moment. "Why don't you stay here with the penguins and we'll patch you in on Skype?" he suggested.

Lector smiled. "Yes, that's a great idea. You've been waiting so long for this, Crump. Stay here with them."

Crump's eyes shined with hope. "If you're really sure. . . ."

"We're sure," Gansley said.

"Great!" Crump exclaimed. "But make sure to patch me in, okay?" He took out his phone.

"Of course," Nesbitt promised.

xxxx

Dartz lived near the mouth of Domino Canyon, quite close to the portal that had opened up to the parallel dimension everyone had visited not long ago. They could see it still open and swirling through space as they passed by on their way to the family's mansion.

"I wish I knew why portals either randomly open or randomly won't close except on their schedule," Atem remarked.

"We'll probably never know," Tristan sighed in resignation and a bit of disgust.

"Well, in this case it's a good thing the portal did open, so we could help that other poor Big Five," Téa said.

"Not to mention to learn what may be ahead in our future," Yami Bakura grunted.

Bakura bit his lip. Yami Bakura had had a long discussion with him that night, informing him that in the other dimension Yami Marik had teamed up with Zorc to wreak havoc, and now everyone wondered if the same thing would happen in their world. Yugi and Atem felt that was the battle Shadi had been saving Yami Bakura for, and it did sound plausible. Bakura was very worried, but had been trying to console himself with thinking that if Yugi and company could defeat Zorc without fatalities, Yami Bakura could too. It had to be possible, since Shadi had promised him he would fully earn his second chance and be mortal if he succeeded in the battle he had been saved for.

"Here we are," Yugi broke into his thoughts.

Everyone stared at Dartz's mansion. Professor Hawkins was particularly fascinated by the pillars and the carvings of Grecian-style figures on the house and around the yard. "I can see he tried to use Atlantis as an influence for the decor," he commented. "And yet it looks like a fairly modern house. An intriguing blend of the old and the new."

"Which is pretty much how his family lives, taking the best from all the eras they've experienced," Yugi said.

"That's nice," Rebecca said, but she still looked wary.

Her grandfather immediately picked up on the problem. "I know you're still struggling with forgiving Dartz for what he did to Yugi, Rebecca," he kindly told her. "But just try to remember what Yugi said about him only doing those horrible things because he was corrupted by the Orichalcos stone for so many millennia."

"I know, Grandpa," Rebecca frowned. "But it's still hard."

"And that's alright," Professor Hawkins said.

Téa found herself wondering if Rebecca would be able to refrain from screaming at Dartz when they arrived at the head of the walkway. At least, she hoped, Rebecca would refrain from kicking him in the shin.

It was rather a relief to the group when the front door was opened by Chris instead of Dartz. "Oh . . . hello, Yugi, Pharaoh," she smiled. "Everyone. . . ." Then she caught sight of the Big Four and gasped.

"What?" Crump said via Skype on Nesbitt's phone. "You haven't seen people who looked like us in ten thousand years and you still remember just like that?"

Gansley tried to resist the urge to facepalm.

"I'm sorry," Chris quickly apologized. "You're right, seeing all of you startled me for a moment. You used to work for Mr. Kaiba, didn't you?"

"That's right," Lector said.

"But . . ." She looked from Lector to Crump. "You know about the men from Atlantis who looked like you?"

"We've just been finding out today," Gansley said.

"Is it true they're still considered cowards?" Johnson blurted.

Chris looked down. "I'm sorry to say it, but yes. Grandfather was especially upset when they left."

Mokuba hurried out in front of the group. "Was there a kid who looked like me?" he asked.

Chris started. "Sir Critias did have a younger brother," she admitted. "We used to play together." She looked away. "He wanted to fight in the Battle of Atlantis. Sir Critias said No, but he was determined to help."

". . . And did he?" Yugi quietly asked.

"We never found his body," Chris said, "nor did we ever see him on our travels to the afterlife." She looked away, blinking back tears. "We really don't know what happened to him."

"Is there any chance that our ancestors took him away from the battle?" Nesbitt demanded. "Maybe they weren't cowards. Maybe they were just trying to save a kid."

Chris stared at him. "I'll admit sometimes I've wondered that. He was very close with the man who was Mr. Lector's ancestor. But we've never found any proof of it. Even if they tried to get away with him, the Orichalcos Soldiers probably found them and killed them. . . ."

"Even if that's true, wouldn't you want to know?" Atem asked. "It would change history where they're concerned."

". . . I would want to know," Chris said. "But I don't know how we'd find out. . . ."

"Come on!" Joey exclaimed. "Wouldn't Dartz know?!"

"I think if he knew, he would have told me," Chris said. "He knew how fond I was of Makarios." She sighed. "And he certainly doesn't have any way to get the information now; the Orichalcos and its soldiers are gone. Thank goodness."

"We would still like to speak with him, if we may," Mako spoke up. "I have a very urgent matter to take up with him."

"Oh? . . ." Chris blinked in confusion. "Of course. Come in, all of you. . . ."

The huge group trouped inside and Chris shut the door after them. She had barely done so when Dartz came down the stairs in surprise. "What's going on?"

"Father, all of these people wanted to see you," Chris explained. "Especially . . ."

"Mako Tsunami," Mako finished for her. He gave Dartz a long, hard look. "If you recognize me at all, then I assume you already know why I need to speak with you."

Dartz's eyes flickered and he looked ill. "You don't need to explain," he agreed. "I remember you, I'm sorry to say."

"Father?" Chris stared up at him.

"When I was trying to find suitable recruits to work for the Orichalcos, I tried this boy," Dartz said. "Because the tidal wave I had sent against Raphael's family was so successful, I tried it again."

"Oh no," Chris whispered.

Mako's eyes flashed. "Then it's true," he snarled. "You tampered with the sea that fateful day! It's because of you that my father is . . . lost. . . ."

"I am so sorry," Dartz said. "But that's hardly compensation for what I did to you. All the regret in the world won't bring your father back to you."

"Do you know what happened to him when the storm hit?" Mako demanded.

Dartz gave him a strange look. ". . . The boat was all but torn asunder," he said. "He tried to grab for anything he could to hold onto, but the wave was too fierce. It took the lifeboat off the vessel, and him with it when he grabbed for the rope. At first they were lost in the churning waters. But then . . ." His eyes flickered with the memories. "It was the most bizarre thing. . . . A vortex suddenly opened in the middle of the sea and swallowed them both."

"_WHAT?!"_ Téa shrieked.

Mako stared. "You didn't open it?!"

"No." Dartz shook his head. "To this day, I don't know what happened. And my attempt to turn you to the darkness from the loss of your father failed; you were too strong-willed and too insistent on living the honorable life your father taught you to live. If only I had left you alone. . . . If only I had left all of them alone. . . ."

Chris took his hand.

Everyone exchanged shaken and bewildered looks.

"What the heck do you think happened?" Joey frowned.

"Who knows," Tristan shot back.

"I know." Mako clenched a fist. "Someone must have opened that vortex to save my father! It was probably some sort of portal to another part of the world, or even a different world." He looked up. "This only further strengthens my resolve! My father is out there somewhere, alive!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Everyone was stunned by Dartz's recounting of what had happened to Mako's father. In light of that information, Mako's determination suddenly didn't seem as far-fetched as it had, although there were still some skeptics.

"Sometimes the sea does bizarre things," Marik remarked. "Couldn't it have just created a whirlpool?"

"It wasn't like that," Dartz insisted. "It was most definitely a vortex, a portal to another place. I could see a sky and buildings through the hole."

"But why? And how?" Téa exclaimed. "And if someone was trying to save Mako's father, why . . . why couldn't they have done the same thing for the bikers' loved ones?" She looked down.

"Maybe they weren't deliberately trying to save him," Mako said. "Maybe him falling through the vortex wasn't something they planned on happening. Maybe they planned on going through themselves, but then he fell through and it closed up after him."

"That would be an awfully big coincidence," Yami Bakura grunted.

"It could happen," Téa said defensively.

"I wonder where the vortex came out at," Yugi said. "It sounds like there's really a lot of different dimensions. It could've been any of them!"

"It must be a place with a great deal of magic," Atem said. "The Duel Monsters' dimension, perhaps? They might have been trying to open communications with our dimension again if they realized what Dartz was doing."

"But those lights weren't in the sky, were they?" Rebecca frowned. "There were always those pretty lights in the sky when the Duel Monsters' dimension opened."

"Perhaps that wasn't always the case," Atem said. "I didn't see them the last time the Duel Monsters' portal opened."

"If Mako's father was in the Duel Monsters' dimension, why didn't he come through any of the times a portal opened up?" Yami Bakura objected.

"Maybe he didn't know," Serenity suggested. "It's probably a big world over there. He might not have been near any portals when they opened."

"Or maybe he was already dead when he fell through or landed," Yami Bakura said.

"No!" Mako slammed his hand on a table. "I won't believe that! There has to be a way to reach him! I will search every dimension if I must, but I _will_ find him! I always felt that we would be reunited someday, and so we shall!"

The Big Five looked at each other. Since the group had the portal-opening candle holder, they actually could help Mako journey to every dimension, or at least, they supposed so. Yugi and at least some of the others likely would.

Indeed, Yugi stepped forward. "We'll definitely do all we can to help you, Mako," he said.

"Ooh, that's right! You have that candle-holder that can make portals!" Rebecca exclaimed. "You can take Mako wherever he needs to go!"

Téa started, surprised that Rebecca would bring that up in Dartz's presence. Maybe Rebecca had decided that Dartz was trustworthy, or maybe she had just got so excited at the thought of Yugi being able to help.

"It would be impossible to visit every dimension, I'm afraid," Dartz said. "It could take a lifetime just to thoroughly scout through one!"

"That is true, and I can hardly ask any of you to embark on such a far-reaching task," Mako frowned.

"Maybe we should give the candle-holder to Mako," Téa suggested. "Then he could go wherever he needed to, whenever he could."

"But what if we need it?" Tristan frowned.

"Maybe you could go with Mako just for a little while," Chris said. "And then if you need to come home and he wants to keep looking, he can keep it then."

"Perhaps," Atem mused. "We should probably discuss it more on the way back down, instead of imposing here any longer."

"No," Dartz said. "It's not an imposition. After what I caused, I would like to try to help as well, if there's any chance Mr. Tsunami survived and can be rescued."

The Big Five looked at each other. "We'd like to help too and all," Crump said, "but we've really gotta get Penguin World ready. We were hoping to have it open before Christmas."

"Of course," Atem nodded. "We certainly can't expect you to always drop everything and come with us."

"What about their ancestors, though?" Mokuba said. "If there's any way to prove they really weren't cowards and that they were trying to save Critias's brother . . ."

Dartz started. "What?!"

"They were talking to me about it outside, Father," Chris said, and quickly explained their discussion.

Dartz frowned as he listened. "Well, it's an interesting theory," he admitted, "but whether it's true or not, I don't see how Mako's quest to find his father has anything to do with it."

"It doesn't," Mokuba said. "Just that if he's gonna check the Duel Monsters' dimension, that's where Critias lives now, and maybe he knows something. . . ." He shifted.

"He might know something about Mako's father, for that matter," Atem said. "We should definitely talk to all the Legendary Knights."

"Well, that's great," Crump said. "Maybe you can let us know what you find out."

Atem nodded. "I think only some of us should go, same as when we investigated the parallel world. I'm sure Kaiba won't want Mokuba to go, for instance."

"Aww man." Mokuba scowled. "But yeah, I'm sure you're right."

"And the Big Five have responsibilities here," Atem continued.

"And if those going over get into trouble, there should be people here who can go after them to help," Gansley grunted. "We will certainly come if we're needed."

"I'm going," Yugi said.

"And you're sure not leavin' us behind!" Joey declared, to which Tristan and Téa chorused in the affirmative.

Dartz suddenly looked overwhelmed. "You're really planning to go to the Duel Monsters' dimension first of any?"

"I think it's probably the best starting point," Atem said. "Ah, I see what you mean, though. . . . You might not be welcome there."

Chris frowned. "Wouldn't they understand that Father was a victim too? The Orichalcos poisoned and corrupted him from the moment he found it!"

"Nevertheless, maybe I had better stay back," Dartz said. "You might find all possible paths closed to you if I'm there."

Atem nodded. "That is your choice." He sighed. "I can't say you'd be wrong. Although I'm sure at least some of the residents would be understanding and forgiving."

"I would certainly like to go, if I may," Professor Hawkins said.

"As would I," Solomon added.

"I rather planned on that," Atem smiled.

"You're not leaving me behind!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"But Rebecca, it might be dangerous," Professor Hawkins objected.

"You're going, Grandpa," Rebecca frowned.

"Yes, but I need to research," Professor Hawkins said.

They left Dartz's home with many plans in mind. It would be a daunting trip, yet an exciting one. And hopefully, one that would provide satisfactory answers for at least one of their mysteries. The Big Four returned to Penguin World to find Crump, while those planning to leave went to find the candle-holder at the Turtle Game Shop and the others either returned home or decided to observe.

"This really is a bizarre turn of events," Johnson said. "I didn't think there actually was a chance that Mako's father might be alive."

"He still might be dead," Nesbitt retorted. "And I don't understand why they want to start with the Duel Monsters' dimension. There was nothing to indicate they should go there."

"There was nothing to indicate they shouldn't, either," Gansley remarked.

"I suppose it's because the Duel Monsters' dimension was apparently so closely connected with what Dartz was doing," Lector said. "If there truly are 'many worlds,' then the best option would seem to be starting with one you know had a reason to be opening portals around then."

"I guess." Nesbitt growled. "It's hard to say what kind of dangers they'll run into in a world like that, populated by wild creatures."

"Hopefully most, if not all, have high levels of intelligence and won't attack unless provoked," Gansley said.

They walked into one of the buildings. Crump was sitting at the edge of an indoor pool, happily watching the penguins swim, jump, and waddle around him. They called to each other and perhaps to him, their voices echoing off the walls.

"Are you going to be able to come away to eat and sleep?" Gansley said with a fond smile of amusement.

Crump started. "Yeah, I'll have to," he said. "Not yet, though. . . ."

"Where's George?" Nesbitt asked.

"Over there." Crump pointed across the room to a mountain of simulated snow and ice. "He's tobogganing down."

The others followed Crump's gaze to where the penguin was flying down the snow on his stomach, his wings spread out to the sides.

"Well, he looks content," Johnson mused.

Lector smiled a bit and pulled his coat closer around him. "The penguins want it too cold for me," he said. "I think I'll go to my office if you're planning to stay here a long time."

"Eh. I'll come soon." Crump started as one small penguin swam over to the edge of the pool and then leaped out of the water onto his lap. "Oh, hey there," he greeted.

The penguin shook itself out, resulting in the rest of the Big Five leaping back so as not to get splashed on.

Gansley was amused notwithstanding. "That penguin obviously already thinks highly of you, Crump."

"Just as it should, since none of them would have all this to enjoy without you," Johnson said to him.

"Hey, all of you helped bring it about," Crump said as he petted the bird.

"Because of your idea," Lector said.

Crump couldn't deny that. "So, when are the others leaving to check out that other dimension?"

"Right away, I believe," Gansley said. "They don't want to waste any time."

"Of course not," Crump said. "I just hope they're goin' to the right place."

"And that if they're not, they'll get back soon and safe," Lector added.

"Hey, guys."

They all started and turned in surprise at Mokuba's voice.

"Hello, Mokuba," Lector greeted. "I thought you were going back to KaibaCorp?"

"I thought I'd swing back here instead," Mokuba said. "If that's okay. I know Seto really won't let me go with them to the Duel Monsters' world, but I don't think he'd mind if I watched the penguins."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like," Lector said. "Or for as long as you can stand the cold."

"Well, I'm sure I can take it, but I don't know how long Marik can," Mokuba said.

"I'm here too," Marik admitted, stepping out of the shadows. "I was just parking the van."

Mokuba beamed. "We thought it'd be a cool buddy outing. Marik's never seen real penguins. Well, not that I have either."

"They are quite fascinating," Lector mused.

They watched as the birds climbed and jumped around their new play place. George soon waddled over to Mokuba and stared at him.

"Hey," Mokuba said, petting his head.

Marik shook his head in disbelief. "That bird is only about a foot shorter than you!"

"Emperors are real big," Crump grinned.

Mokuba hesitated. "I wonder if there's any way KaibaCorp could help you guys find answers about our ancestors. . . . Like, we could run some stuff through the database and see what comes up."

"It couldn't hurt," Nesbitt said gruffly. "But I'm sure you wouldn't find anything."

"Yeah, probably not," Mokuba sighed. "I was really hoping Dartz and his family might know something."

"I wonder why he doesn't," Gansley frowned. "Considering that this Critias was one of his fiercest enemies, you'd think that he would want to keep track of the brother and anyone else who might be a problem. If our ancestors really escaped with your ancestor, and the boy wanted so badly to fight Dartz, why didn't they launch an attack against him once he grew up?"

"I think Dartz was wandering all over the world after Atlantis sank," Mokuba said. "Maybe they couldn't find him."

"And if they had, maybe he wouldn't have had the power to do anything about it," Lector said.

"I think he would've," Mokuba said. "He said he'd been capturing souls all that time." He shuddered. "But if he'd stolen their souls, you'd think he'd remember that."

"There's a piece we're missing somewhere," Gansley said.

The penguin on Crump's lap warbled and spread its wings.

Crump looked down at it. "Hey, little guy." He patted it. "What do you want?"

The penguin walked around, slipped, and grabbed for Crump's knee with its flippers.

Crump quickly steadied it. "Aren't penguins just the greatest?!" he gushed.

Johnson looked amused. "I wonder what would happen if George tried to stand on your lap."

"I'd probably fall in the pool with him," Crump said. "Emperor Penguins can weigh up to 100 pounds!"

"Seriously?" Mokuba stared.

"I hope he doesn't stand on _my_ lap," Nesbitt grunted.

George gave him the same deadpan look he had given Mako and started to preen.

Lector's phone dinged and he pulled it out to look at the incoming message. He quickly went pale. "Oh no!"

"What is it?!" Nesbitt demanded.

Lector held up his phone. Everyone crowded around to look.

_We really need your help after all; something went wrong._

_Please come to the Turtle Game Shop. Bring Dartz too._

Nesbitt frowned. "Do you think it's legitimate?"

"I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be," Lector said. "I doubt Duel Monsters know how to use cell phones."

"That's so ominous, though," Mokuba frowned. "And why do they need Dartz?"

"I suppose we won't know anything until we go there," Lector said.

"I'll call Dartz and ask him to meet us there," Gansley said.

"And I guess Marik and I can't go, huh?" Mokuba sighed.

"You'd have to ask your brother," Lector said. "But I'm sure he wouldn't want you to."

"I don't think we should go either," Marik told Mokuba. "Who knows what's going on over there . . . or what might come through to here the longer the portal is left open!"

Mokuba cringed. "I didn't think about that. . . . Somebody really should stand guard on this side."

"Maybe Yami Bakura, if he didn't go," Johnson suggested.

Crump patted the penguin on his lap and stood, setting it down on the edge of the pool. "Were you the only one contacted, Lector?" he asked.

"Yes," Lector said. "Yugi must have only had enough time to send it to one person, which is also a worry."

"It sure is," Mokuba frowned. He hugged George and stepped back.

Crump looked down at himself. "I'd better go change. That little guy got me all wet." He hurried to his office, where he had decided to keep changes of clothes just in case of such antics. Within five minutes he was freshly dressed and had left instructions with the people taking care of the penguins. He and the others quickly left.

Dartz was already waiting when they arrived at the Game Shop, as were Duke and David and the Bakuras.

"I let him in," Duke explained. He and Solomon had keys to each other's stores in case of such emergencies.

"I still don't know what to think about any of this," Dartz frowned. "Why would Yugi decide I'm needed after all? I'm sure I'll only make things worse for them."

"I don't know," Lector said. "He didn't respond to the message I sent telling him we were all on our way."

"And it looks like Mr. Muto decided to go over with them," David said. "It's all deserted here."

"Did you find the portal?" Mokuba asked.

"Yeah, it's spinning around in Yugi and Atem's room," Duke said.

Gansley sighed. "Well, we'd better go through."

"Come to think of it, I wonder why Yugi didn't send for Kaiba too, since he has the last ring in our set," Crump said.

Mokuba looked down. "I hope Seto isn't needed. . . . I'm worried enough that you guys are."

Lector laid a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to come back alright," he vowed. He prayed that was true.

Mokuba turned and hugged him. "You'd better!"

Lector hugged him close. "Don't you try to come after us," he warned.

"I will if you don't come back soon enough!" Mokuba retorted.

"And we'll be watching in case something terrible tries to come out," Bakura said.

"Good," Nesbitt grunted.

"We'd better go," Gansley said.

The Big Five steeled themselves and climbed into the portal one by one. Dartz followed, his eyes narrowed in his concern.

They all fell out in a heap in what seemed to be a beautiful meadow. But when at least a dozen axes were pointed at them in the next moment, it didn't feel like such a beautiful setting.

"What is this?!" Lector exclaimed.

"I thought the Duel Monsters' dimension was a peaceful place!" Crump added.

They all knelt in the grass. The axes were on every side, wielded by a group of Vorse Raiders. Each one bore a wicked, bloodthirsty grin, and most of their weapons were already stained with blood.

Gansley suddenly stiffened. "Oh no. . . ." The blood looked fresh. What if some of the others . . . ?

Johnson drew a shaking breath. He was usually the spokesman for the group; he would try to be so again. "H-Hello," he stammered. "We don't mean any harm. Some of our friends came through here an hour or so ago, not meaning any harm either. Did you see them?"

"Of course," growled one tough Vorse Raider. "We took them all where we'll take you."

"Why?" Nesbitt burst out. "Crump's right; this world is supposed to be peaceful! Why treat us like this?!"

"And where did you take them?" Gansley interjected.

"You'll see soon." The Vorse Raider gestured at them. "Get up."

The Big Five stumbled to their feet, Gansley grabbing for his cane.

"This world is on the brink of a new era," a second Vorse Raider exclaimed. "That man Dartz was right in his assessment of the human world. The same is true of this world. We're going to do here what he wanted to do in your world."

"No way!" Crump yelped. "You're gonna have it swallowed up by a giant sea snake?!"

"Something like that," the first Vorse Raider sneered.

"And who is your commander?"

Everyone started at Dartz's voice. He had landed farther away from the Big Five and had not been caught by the Vorse Raiders. Now he was coming over to them, looking for all the world like the majestic king of Atlantis that he had once been.

The reaction from the Vorse Raiders was astounding. Every one bowed down on one knee. "Why, you are, Master Dartz," said the first.

Dartz's eyes barely flickered, the only indication of his surprise. "Then I command you to release these men, and their friends who came before them," he said. "They tell the truth that they are here only on a peaceful mission, searching for someone who may have fallen into your world some years ago."

Without question, the Vorse Raiders turned their weapons away, allowing the Big Five to escape. They hurried over to Dartz, stunned.

"So this is why we had to bring him," Crump said under his breath.

"Apparently Dartz has had sympathizers here all along that he knew nothing about," Gansley remarked. Louder he asked, "Are our friends still alive?"

"Yes," the lead Vorse Raider said. "We'll take you to them."

They all started to walk over the meadow.

"So . . . what do you think'll happen when these guys find out Dartz doesn't wanna blow up the world anymore?" Crump whispered.

"I guess that depends on how much they trust him to lead them right no matter what," Lector whispered back, his eyes filled with worry.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

It was an immense relief and joy when the Big Five and Dartz were led to a stone building with bars on the windows and the door was opened with a command to release the prisoners. Yugi and everyone in his group emerged, looking equally or more relieved and joyous.

"Guys!" Yugi exclaimed. "You made it!"

"Are all of you alright?" Gansley demanded.

"We're all fine," Téa said. "But this sure wasn't what we expected to find when we crossed over!"

Rebecca scowled. "I'm so mad at these creeps for arresting Grandpa! And poor little Yugi! And I'm not so happy at being arrested either!"

"I'd sure like to give those things a piece of my mind!" Joey growled. "I never did like that card."

"Be quiet, man!" Tristan hissed. "You'll make 'em mad!"

Mai had to give a dark smirk. While normally she didn't encourage Joey shooting off his mouth, she was pretty angry at being arrested too. Especially when the jailhouse was as filthy as it was. Vorse Raiders were not known for their cleanliness.

The Vorse Raiders sneered at the lot of them, but thankfully made no move to attack or to re-arrest them.

"I've been trying to ask about my father, but none of these barbarians know anything about him," Mako frowned.

"We should go to the palace and speak with the Dark Magician Girl and the Legendary Knights," Atem said. "We also need to talk to Critias about his younger brother."

Lector cringed. "I doubt he'll be happy to see us, when we resemble the men he trusted who ran away."

"Yeah, but you guys aren't those men," Yugi countered. "And if it's possibly true that they saved his little brother, he'd have to feel differently towards them!"

"Unfortunately, we don't know that that's true," Lector said.

"And we don't know that it isn't," Atem said. "We should present the possibility to him, in any case."

"So . . . are these guys gonna leave us alone?" Joey frowned, eyeing the Vorse Raiders with suspicion. They bowed in response.

"I believe so," Dartz said.

Yugi nodded. "I think they'll do whatever Dartz tells them to."

"At least for the time being," Gansley grunted, still not convinced they would continue to obey once they knew the truth about Dartz.

"So where's this palace we're supposed to go to?" Crump wondered.

"I believe it's over there," Solomon said, pointing to a nearby hill. "We saw it in the distance right before we were all captured."

"Then let's go, boys and girls!" Joey exclaimed.

They were halfway to the hill when three men came over the hill from the opposite direction. "Hello!" called a very deep-voiced one in turquoise armor. He waved to the group.

Both Atem and Dartz stiffened in recognition, for different reasons. "Timaeus," they whispered.

"Hi!" Yugi called with a wave.

The Legendary Knights hurried over to them. "We heard that the Vorse Raiders had captured several visitors to this world," one in blue said. "We came as quickly as we could!"

"How did you get them to set you free?" one in red demanded. "Vorse Raiders love destruction and death!"

"Kaiba . . . and Joey," Téa whispered in shock. "And Timaeus sounds and looks like Atem. . . . They really must be their ancestors! And still alive because they were frozen in time all those years. . . ."

Mai was stunned too. Of course she had heard about the Knights, but it wasn't anything compared to actually seeing them.

Professor Hawkins just stared in utter, awed amazement. "This is truly incredible!" he exclaimed. "These are actually the Legendary Knights of Atlantis!"

"Hmph." Rebecca studied them and then looked away. "Yugi's cuter."

Yugi went red.

Atem sighed in response to the red knight's question. "As to how we got free, Hermos . . . it's a long story."

"But you will have to know sooner or later." Dartz stepped forward, resigned and fully expecting retaliation from the knights he had injured and cursed so long ago.

All three knights stiffened. "Dartz," Timaeus whispered. He gripped his sword tighter.

"You'd really dare to show your face here?!" Hermos exclaimed. "After everything?!"

"We should strike you down right now!" the knight in blue, Critias, snarled.

"Wait." Timaeus held his sword horizontally in front of Critias. "Dartz was corrupted by the Orichalcos and then set free. We all know this. We can't strike him down in good conscience now."

Critias snarled. "After what he did to your eye, as well as to all of us, you should want to see him suffer at least half as much as I do, if not more!"

"I might like to," Timaeus agreed, "but it wouldn't serve any purpose. We must adhere to a higher law. Dartz is not a threat now."

"Not to mention, killing him would incite all the renegades we're trying to keep down," Hermos said.

Critias still didn't look pacified, but he didn't raise his sword. Instead he caught sight of the Big Five and stiffened, the color draining from his face. "All of you too?! How many enemies and traitors am I expected to encounter in one day?!"

Gansley sighed. "We are not the men who served you," he said. "We are their modern descendants."

Critias frowned as he took them all in. ". . . My apologies," he said at last. "What those men did to me, and to all of Atlantis, still burns my heart and soul."

By now they were all walking down the other side of the hill. Atem hesitated, then finally took the plunge. "Did you ever consider that perhaps they weren't running from the Battle of Atlantis as cowards, but to save the life of your younger brother?"

Critias stopped walking. "Makarios. . . ." He whirled to stare at Atem. "What makes you say this?! Do you have some evidence it's true?!"

"Sadly, no," Atem said. "We are merely speculating."

"But I am hoping to find some evidence of it," Professor Hawkins spoke up. "That's one of the reasons why we came over here."

"And the other was to search for my father," Mako spoke up. "Have any of you possibly heard of him—Akio Tsunami?"

The knights looked to each other. "I'm afraid not," Timaeus said.

"He would have fallen into this world by a mysterious vortex that opened over ten years ago," Mako said.

"We were still frozen in crystal then," Hermos said. "You would need to talk to our ruler, the Dark Magician Girl."

"That's exactly what we hope to do," Atem said.

And now said Dark Magician Girl was hurrying towards them too, floating through the sky. "My Pharaoh!" she called. "I was so worried when I learned you had crossed over to here! It's a dangerous time to be in our dimension. That was why I closed the last portal that connected our worlds."

"You closed it?" Atem said in surprise. "While a noble gesture, this problem with your renegade Duel Monsters will likely spread to our dimension if it is not stopped."

"I know," she sighed. "They want to find a way to revive the Leviathan and the Orichalcos. Thankfully, right now they cannot do either. But they hope that if they turn enough Spellcasters to their side, and possibly even Fiends, they may obtain enough power to call forth these evil powers."

"Then let us pray they never will," Atem said.

Dark Magician Girl still looked uneasy, but she tried to smile as they reached the castle grounds. "Well, I know you must have had very important reasons for coming over here," she said. "Let's go to the castle and we can all discuss it."

Professor Hawkins was staring at her and everything else with goggle-eyed interest. "Would it be permissible for me to take photographs of the castle and some of the Duel Monsters?" he asked. "Studying the origins of Duel Monsters has been my lifelong work, and this dimension is a dream come true."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Dark Magician Girl told him.

"That isn't why we've come over," Atem quickly said. "Although it was part of why the Professor accompanied us."

"Please go on, my Pharaoh," Dark Magician Girl said. They reached the steps leading up to the castle and started to climb up.

It took some time to explain yet again about their reasons for coming. Dark Magician Girl listened very seriously, frowning to herself as she contemplated their tale.

"I'm afraid I don't have any information on the Big Five's Atlantean ancestors or Makarios," she said. "I would have told Critias if I knew anything about them."

"We were sure that was the case," Atem said.

"And as for this Akio Tsunami . . . well . . . I _was _trying to open portals to your world during that time period," she continued. "I remember opening one during a heavy storm and I tried to hurry and close it before the storm swept into this world as well. A man and a boat fell through it before I could close it."

Mako perked up. "My father!" he cried. "Tell me, was he alive?!"

"Yes, he was," Dark Magician Girl told him, "but he was badly hurt from the experience. I took him to the castle and all of my best healers worked on him for quite some time. He was delirious and kept calling for his son, but he couldn't remember his name or where he belonged. He still didn't when he physically recovered, so I thought I'd better keep him here instead of turning him loose in your world."

"And he's still here?!" Mako exclaimed.

"Yes, he is," Dark Magician Girl said. "He lives near the sea and fishes."

"I must go to him!" Mako said. "Please, is there anyone who can take me to him?"

"I will take you," Critias said. "Anyone who can be deserves to be reunited with his family." Sadness flickered in his eyes. "Dartz took all of that from me. I am finally free to live my life, but my brother has been dead these long centuries. I do not know when I will see him again."

Dartz looked down. "I am sorry," he said. "But I know that isn't any consolation."

"No, it isn't," Critias growled.

Yugi bit his lip. "With these renegades running around, will it be dangerous to go find Mako's father?" he worried.

"It's always possible," Dark Magician Girl said, "but as long as you have Dartz with you, you'll probably be alright."

"But I no longer wish to destroy the world," Dartz said. "If any of them find out, won't they turn against me?"

"Probably," Hermos said. "So we'll just have to make sure they don't find out."

Crump shifted nervously. "Do you think we need Kaiba along on this trip?"

Dark Magician Girl sighed. "It would be better if he were here," she admitted. "But then I suppose it would be impossible to keep Mokuba away."

"How'd you keep Serenity from coming anyway?" Crump wondered.

"I told her it'd probably work better if there was a small group, and anyway, I wasn't expecting any danger," Joey said. "I thought we'd be able to pop back to our world in an hour or less, like last time."

"Maybe we shouldn't all go along," Johnson said. "We brought Dartz, but are we really useful here? Our rings won't activate unless the world is in danger, and I'm guessing that means our world and not another one." He adjusted his glasses. "I wasn't planning on plunging headlong into a war. . . ."

"It's not a war yet, and I hope to keep it that way," Dark Magician Girl said.

"I don't feel right about leaving them here," Lector said. "I think we need to do what we can."

"My point is that we may be more of a hindrance than a help," Johnson said.

"We certainly won't hold you here," Atem said. "Naturally you're all also worried about each other and don't want to risk harm coming to any of you. I can open a different portal right now and send you home."

"You are our friends as well," Lector said. "We want you to be safe."

Johnson bowed his head. "Of course that's true. . . . Even though I once never thought it could be. If we can help, I want to."

Gansley nodded. "Let's take a vote. All in favor of staying?"

All of the Big Five raised their hands, including Johnson.

"Alright then," Gansley said with a small smile.

"How long can it take to go get a guy and leave?" Crump said.

"It may take longer than you're thinking, when he doesn't remember who he is," Critias cautioned.

"On the other hand, perhaps seeing me will jog his memory!" Mako countered. "He even remembered me when he remembered nothing else! I will take comfort in that."

Nesbitt looked away. Even when Gozaburo had tried to make him forget Lector, it hadn't really worked. He had still felt completely safe with the other man. And being around Lector had restored his memories in full before long. So he certainly couldn't say what Mako hoped was impossible.

"We should set out immediately," Critias said. "It shouldn't take long, but we need to be prepared for anything that might happen to waylay us."

"Maybe we need to send a message home and let everyone know what's going on," Téa suggested.

"I just hope Serenity won't decide to come over after all," Joey worried. "With these renegades, this is no place for her!"

Yugi nodded. "I won't mention them, just that Mako's father is alive and we're going to get him." He took out his phone.

xxxx

Seto had been hard at work all day, with no knowledge of all that had been unfolding. For all he knew, Mokuba had been at Penguin World all day and everything was peaceful and calm.

He wasn't happy in the least when Shadi suddenly appeared in his office.

"Oh great. What do you want now?" Seto scowled.

"There are dangerous events unfolding, Seto Kaiba," Shadi said. "Your brother did not tell you because he didn't want to endanger you, but it is information you need to know."

Seto leaped to his feet. "Is Mokuba in danger?!" he demanded.

"No, but many of your friends are, including the Pharaoh and Téa Gardner," Shadi told him.

"Téa," Seto whispered.

He listened in growing displeasure as Shadi rehearsed to him all that had been happening that day. At the conclusion Seto leaned forward at his desk, lacing his fingers in front of his face. He didn't like the sound of any of this. Renegade Duel Monsters going after the others, wanting to unleash Dartz's insane plans on everyone. . . . And if that wasn't bad enough, there was also the worry of them crossing over to this world.

"Am I supposed to go over there and use my ring?" he asked at last.

"Perhaps," Shadi said. "Whether you find a situation in which to use your ring or not, your presence may turn the tides in our favor."

"Oh, well, that's beautifully vague," Seto shot back. "And supposing I decide to go over. How do I keep Mokuba from following me?! That's the last place I want him to be!"

"You will have to decide that for yourself," Shadi replied. "Although Mokuba may have a part to play in this situation himself."

Seto got to his feet, his eyes flashing. "Look. I'll go over there if I have to, but I'm not taking Mokuba with me or allowing him to go. Is that clear?!"

Shadi nodded. "Perfectly." And he vanished.

Seto growled and turned away. "Roland, hold all my appointments for the rest of the day," he said into the intercom. "Something's come up."

"Of . . . of course, Sir," Roland stammered. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't know," Seto grumbled. "Téa and some of the others are in trouble. I'm going to see what I can do about it."

"Be careful, Sir," Roland implored.

Seto's thoughts were whirling as he collected his cards and Duel Disk and changed out of his business suit into something more comfortable. He still hated getting involved in magical messes, but he hated the thought of his friends in trouble even more. One way or another, he had to get over there and help them.

"Why did they have to go over there anyway?" he muttered. "Chasing some foolhardy fable about Mako's father?"

He frowned. Only apparently it wasn't a fable; Shadi had said they had found him and were going to him. If it had been Mokuba lost and there was any smidgen of hope to get him back, Seto never would have given up on him, just as Mako had never given up on his father. As frustrated as Seto was, he couldn't deny that he understood Mako's resolve perfectly.

And this mess they had stumbled into with the renegade Duel Monsters. . . . Well, knowing how things went, they would have likely all become involved in that sooner or later. Seto didn't know how they were going to fix that situation. If the renegades wouldn't listen to reason, the only solution might be a battle to the death.

Could Duel Monsters even be killed, though? Seto scowled. He had never had to wonder such things before. But considering that they lived in a magical realm and there were countless ways of reviving them when they were sent to the Graveyard in duels, it seemed like they might very well be immortal. That wasn't a pleasant thought when it came to ones that were causing so much trouble.

He was heading for the Turtle Game Shop when a blue car got in his path and both cars were forced to throw on the brakes very quickly. "What's going on?!" Seto demanded of his chauffeur.

"We narrowly avoided a collision, Sir," the chauffeur replied.

A door slammed and the driver of the blue car stormed over to the limousine. "Say, what's goin' on here?!" an indignant voice exclaimed in an Australian accent.

"Oh great," Seto muttered. He rolled down the window. "Our near-collision was your fault, not my driver's. And I've got an important appointment, so you'll just have to move along now," he told Valon.

"Oh yeah? Well, I disagree about whose fault it was!" Valon shot back.

The passenger window rolled down. "Nevermind, Valon. You were driving too fast. He could sue you. If he's not going to, just leave it alone and let's go," Alister told him.

Now Valon was even more annoyed. "I knew you wouldn't be likely to take my side, but I didn't think you'd take _his!_"

"Valon, come on," Raphael growled from the back seat.

Valon still looked displeased, but he headed back to the blue car.

Seto sighed to himself. Actually, he supposed, the bikers might even want to be involved if they knew renegade Duel Monsters were threatening to carry out Dartz's treacherous plans. But he really didn't want to deal with them right now. And since things always unfortunately seemed to involve magic and they didn't have any, they might just as well stay behind. He didn't give any of them a second glance as the chauffeur drove around them and continued to the Game Shop.

"Wonder where he's off to in such a hurry," Valon mused.

"Who cares?" Alister retorted. Deep down, he was relieved that Valon seemed to have forgotten any desire to argue.

"It is kinda odd," Raphael said as he turned to look down the street. "He's heading for Yugi's Game Shop. In fact, he's stopping in front of it. And he was so uptight. I'd say something must be going wrong again."

"Then I say we should find out what it is!" Valon exclaimed. He leaped back in the driver's seat and spun the car around faster than he probably should have. Alister and Raphael both crashed into the car doors.

"Valon!" Alister reached to straighten his sunglasses, which were now ajar. "I knew it was a mistake to let you drive!"

"Ugh," Raphael grunted. "I'm pretty sure you can't make a U-Turn here."

"Wasn't any reason not to," Valon retorted.

Raphael found it a minor miracle that they weren't given a ticket before they parked next to Seto's limousine. Valon leaped out almost immediately and headed inside, letting the bell on the door jangle furiously. Shaking his head, Raphael followed. Alister scowled but joined him.

David was leaning against the front of the counter with folded arms when they walked in. "Let me guess," he mused. "You're here for the next emergency conference, not to buy cards. Upstairs, in Yugi and Atem's room." He pointed over his shoulder at the stairs.

"Right!" Valon chirped, thundering up the stairs.

"Just what kind of emergency conference is this?" Raphael frowned.

"Something about the portal to the Duel Monsters' dimension, I guess," David said.

"The _what?!_" Raphael growled and facepalmed. "This is not gonna be good."

Alister glided past Raphael to the stairs, not even bothering to ask why there was a portal to the Duel Monsters dimension. Frustrated, Raphael opted to follow. They'd learn the rest of the story at the top, he supposed.

In Yugi's room, Seto was discussing the matter with Yami Bakura, who was still boredly standing guard.

"You say Shadi came and told you there's trouble?! Oh my," Bakura said in alarm.

"Oh no!" Serenity exclaimed. "Then I should be there too!" She gripped her phone. "Yugi sent a message to all of us that they found Mako's father, but he didn't say anything about more trouble!" She had been out of the room when the Big Five and Dartz had come to cross over, but Duke had told her about that when she had got back. They had been discussing what to do when Seto arrived.

"Seto, you can't go over without me!" Mokuba cried.

"Mokuba, I don't want you anywhere near there!" Seto retorted.

"You're the one who lost his soul when Dartz tried to destroy the world!" Mokuba shot back.

"As I understand it, right now these Duel Monsters don't have either the Orichalcos or the Leviathan," Seto retorted, not wanting to address the matter of losing souls at all. "But I'm not even going over to do anything about them. I'm just going to try to help the others."

"One thing is no doubt gonna lead to another," Raphael said as he and the other bikers came to stand in the doorway.

Alister removed his sunglasses. "If there's any danger of the Orichalcos coming back again, we have to do our part to try to stop it," he said.

Seto didn't even bother to ask why they were all here. "It's probably another magic-based problem that requires magic to stop it," he said in disgust.

"So? That's never stopped us before," Valon smirked.

"I don't want to have to baby-sit you," Seto said flatly.

"We can look out for ourselves," Raphael replied.

Marik looked to them. "If you go over, you'll see Dartz." While he knew the experience with the Neo-Orichalcos had softened Alister's feelings towards the man, he wasn't sure Raphael wasn't still struggling with feelings of anger and betrayal. And Valon . . . it was hard to know one way or the other about Valon.

"I know," Raphael said.

"If you want to come, then come." Seto started to climb into the portal. "I'm leaving now. Mokuba, you are not to follow me! Do you understand?!"

"But Seto . . . !" Mokuba cried.

Marik laid his hands on Mokuba's shoulders. "Your brother is right, Mokuba. We should stay back."

"What I'm wondering is why Shadi hasn't said anything to me," Yami Bakura growled. "Am I not needed over there? Or are my suspicions correct and I will be needed on this side of the portal if something nasty comes through?"

"Having a magic user on this side of it is probably a good idea," Marik told him, even though he wasn't crazy about spending even more time with him. They had never gotten along, but were trying to make it work to be allies.

"Alright then! Off we go!" Valon called. As soon as Seto was through, he leaped in himself. "Woohoo!"

"This isn't a party," Raphael scolded.

"It's useless, Raph," Alister said with a roll of his eyes. He climbed into the portal with a swish of his coat.

Sighing, Raphael followed.

Serenity narrowed her eyes as she stood looking into the swirling vortex.

"You're going, aren't you?" Duke knew that look.

"My place is supporting Joey," Serenity said. "Maybe I'll even be able to do something to actively help." She smiled at Duke. "But I don't expect you to come with me, Duke."

"As if I'd stay back?" Duke retorted. "No way!"

"Okay then." Serenity took Duke's hand. "Together?"

"Together," Duke nodded.

They stepped through.

David came running up to the doorway almost as soon as they vanished. "Duke-!" He exhaled in exasperation.

Yami Bakura gave him a blasé look. "If you want to accompany them, I won't stop you."

David sighed. "Vicious monsters, real magic, and a plot to destroy the world. Just another typical day." With that, he climbed in too.

Mokuba stamped his foot in frustration. "Everyone's going! I need to be there too! . . ." But he trailed off, his shoulders slumping. "I get why no one wants me there, though. . . . Everybody always gets hurt trying to protect me." He looked away, blinking back the forming tears. "Even if I manage to do something to help, it's probably something someone else could do themselves, and I'll probably just get somebody hurt again."

"Mokuba. . . ." Marik gripped the boy's shoulders. "That's not true. Your brother is just being protective of you. As am I."

"And waiting here isn't necessarily safe," Yami Bakura grunted.

Mokuba turned and hugged Marik. "I just want to help," he whispered. "I'm so worried about them! . . ."

"I know, Mokuba," Marik said quietly. "I know. . . ."

He prayed that the group would accomplish their mission quickly and be able to leave. And that he could keep Mokuba from going after them until then.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Nesbitt had really been expecting something archaic for their travels, if not outright walking, so he was stunned when Critias led them to a landing pad at the rear of the castle and a majestic Gradius. He immediately ran over, staring at the plane in awe. "You have these here?!"

Critias grunted. "Every Duel Monster is here," he replied.

Lector smiled in a bit of fondness at his friend's enthusiasm. From his starry eyes and the reverent way he ran his hand over the exterior of the machine, Nesbitt had never imagined he would ever see one up close, let alone to ride in it. He looked like a kid seeing Disney World for the first time.

"Alright!" Joey exclaimed. "We are travelin' in style!" He pumped the air.

Atem looked surprised too. "You can fly this?" he said to Critias.

"I'm a fast learner," Critias shrugged. "Yes, after we were all released from our curses, we were taught in all the latest technology. It still isn't as advanced as what eventually came to be in Atlantis."

Nesbitt looked up. "What was the technology there like?"

"Each person had their own personal aircraft," Dartz spoke up. "There weren't cars; the sky was our highway."

"Fascinating!" Nesbitt exclaimed.

"Truly incredible," Professor Hawkins agreed.

"I have a question," Mai spoke up. "Isn't Gradius a fighter plane?"

"Yes, but since it's peacetime, we've been using it for other purposes," Critias said.

Everyone soon boarded and Critias took the Gradius into the sky. Once it was safe to undo the safety belt, Nesbitt got up and went to the cockpit to see how to pilot the craft. Of course, he was soon asking more questions about Atlantean technology. Professor Hawkins joined him before long.

"Heh." Gansley leaned back with a fond and amused smile. "Well, Nesbitt is in seventh Heaven."

"It's nice to see him so excited," Lector mused.

"Strange, though," Johnson said, "since usually when he gets emotional he's upset or angry about something. Now, both he and Crump have been excited about things the same day." He looked to Lector. "Do you think you'll ever be so visibly excited about something again, Lector?"

Lector blinked in surprise. "I really couldn't say. I suppose the last time I was, was back in Noa's world. And I am ashamed of that now." That seemed a lifetime ago.

"Is there something you'd like more than anything else?" Crump chimed in.

"For all of us to get out of this safe and be able to just relax for a good long while," Lector said.

"A good answer," Gansley said. "I'm sure we all want that." He glanced over at Mako, who seemed tensely excited as he ran his hand over the black notebook of his father's that he had discovered in New Orleans.

"I can't imagine how you must feel right now, Mako," Téa said to him. "After all these years, your search is really about to pay off!"

"Yes! My father is alive and at last I will see him again!" But Mako wavered. "Although . . . what if he really doesn't remember me?"

"His heart will remember you even if his mind doesn't at first," Nesbitt gruffly spoke up, looking over from the cockpit.

Mako looked to him in surprise, not having expected such a sentiment from the logically-minded man. "I want to believe that," he admitted. "But it's been so long. . . . Maybe he only remembers me as the small child I was when we were separated. Maybe he won't recognize me now."

"He'll recognize you," Nesbitt insisted.

"You're awfully confident," Mako said.

"That's because . . . I had amnesia too." Nesbitt looked away, clenching a fist at his side. "In my case it was magically induced, but it had the same end result. One of our arch-enemies tried to make me forget Lector."

Mako stared at him, stunned. "What happened?"

"On the surface it seemed to work, at least at first," Nesbitt said. "I thought we were the Big Four. I didn't remember Lector was supposed to be there too. And yet . . . when I saw him, when I really looked at him . . . I . . . really knew he belonged. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't remember him, and that frustration drove me to doubt several times, but in the end, I couldn't deny what I felt. I couldn't forget my best friend."

Lector started to smile a bit. Nesbitt had never really wanted to talk about what had happened after the initial conversation they had shared about it. Hearing about Mako's father had been dragging those memories to the surface again, for both of them. It was painful, and yet they were remembering the good as well as the bad. Gozaburo had not been able to separate them, despite his best efforts.

"That is a very powerful tale," Mako said. He looked to Lector. "But it must have been so difficult for both of you while he was struggling with his lost memories."

"It was," Lector said. "But at least his personality didn't change. He still behaved like the dear friend I missed, and he treated me well instead of being standoffish towards me. That meant a great deal."

Mako looked down. "I hope the same will be true of my father."

"Hey, he's fishing, right?" Joey interjected. "That sounds to me like he's gotta be the same as he was!"

"I agree," Yugi smiled. He looked down at the notebook. "What was it that made you decide to go to Los Angeles, Mako?"

"My father wrote several times in this notebook about longing to visit California and its great coastal cities," Mako said. "I decided that should be my next stop. I had already visited San Diego without success. Then in Los Angeles I met the professor and Rebecca, and after hearing their stories, I knew I needed to accompany them to Domino City."

"Well, it's sure good that you did," Téa smiled. "Now your wish is just about to come true!"

Critias started to bring the Gradius into a descent in the next several minutes. "His usual spot is just down the dock from the shack he built to live in," he said. "But he also goes out delivering his catches to nearby villages."

"Then he is much the same," Mako said. "I am sure of it!"

Soon the Gradius had landed on the grass and Mako was hurrying out in anticipation and hope. "Hello?" he called. "Father?"

After a moment a man stepped out of the shack. It had been over ten years, and his worn face showed the passage of time, but he was still recognizable to Mako. And as he stood looking at the boy, something glimmered in his eyes. "Son?"

Mako's heart swelled. "Father!" He ran forward, the years falling away as he dived into the familiar, strong arms. "Oh Father, I knew I would see you again one day! . . ." He clutched the man close.

Akio Tsunami's grip tightened. "Mako," he whispered. "Son. . . . I've missed you so much. . . ."

"But now we're together again, Father!" Mako exclaimed. "We can go home!"

"Yes," Akio agreed. "Home. . . . But now that we're together again, anywhere is home."

Téa brushed aside a happy tear. "He really did it," she whispered. "Mako is back with his dad again, just as it should be."

"I hope he won't want to live here, after being here for so long," Tristan frowned.

"If he does, Mako will certainly stay too," Atem said. "And we'd need to make sure it's a safe place for them."

"The other knights and I wanted to bring down the renegade Duel Monsters as soon as they surfaced," Critias said, "but Dark Magician Girl wanted so desperately to avoid war and more bloodshed that she refused to allow us to proceed. She's tried to have diplomatic talks with the renegades, but although some of them supposedly are willing to abandon their ideas, others are not. The Vorse Raiders in particular are insistent about pursuing this madness."

"Like I said, I never liked that card," Joey scowled. "It looks creepy as heck and the blurb sure doesn't make it sound very hospitable!"

"It's a pretty powerful Level 4 card, though," Yugi said. "There aren't a lot of Level 4 cards with 1900 attack points, so it's really useful."

"Eh. Good point," Joey conceded. "There's even some cards with 1800 points that are Level 5!"

"Or 1600," Atem remarked, thinking of Deepsea Warrior.

"I doubt the Vorse Raiders are philosophical enough to want to end things for the same reasons I did while under the Orichalcos's spell," Dartz frowned. "I would think it more likely that they're in this for the sheer bloodlust they crave so much."

"Except for that little thing about how they sure all bowed to you when you showed up," Crump said.

"True," Dartz relented.

"Honestly, I don't know what they're after, because you're right that they're not really philosophical," Critias said. "And yet they certainly seem to idolize you. I wonder if it could be an act, that they know others will sincerely follow you and so they have to as well to keep up appearances."

"Perhaps," Dartz mused.

Johnson shifted nervously. "I know I wish we could just all go home and not have to worry about this," he said. "We've found Mako's father. If he'll leave, that should be it. Our rings might not work in this dimension anyway, and how could we stop renegade Duel Monsters without them?"

Critias's eyes flashed. "You're a coward, just like your ancestor!"

Now Lector was angry. "He most certainly is not a coward!" he spat. "He gave his life for me, just as the others did!"

Critias growled. "What affects one dimension will affect others," he said. "You can't just be concerned with your own!"

"You don't know what we've all been through over the last years!" Lector retorted. "It is perfectly reasonable and not cowardly at all for Johnson to worry about our safety! Not to mention, he's making a good point about our rings."

"Alright, both of you, calm down," Gansley ordered. "This won't help anything."

Critias and Lector stood glaring at each other, but neither spoke again.

"Pretty weird to see this Kaiba guy so anxious to start a war when our Kaiba hates it so much," Crump remarked.

"Although our Kaiba will also fight if he has to," Gansley said. "This is the same type of thing on a larger scale."

The hatch opened and Mako and his father entered the jet. "We are reunited at last!" Mako exclaimed in joy. "Father wants to come back to our world, but he would like to show me some of the places that have become very special to him while he's been here. Is that alright with everyone?"

Téa bit her lip. "It would be great if it wasn't for the renegade Duel Monsters. . . ."

"Oh, we don't have to worry about them," Akio insisted. "They're a small faction."

"Look at all the damage Dartz did all by himself," Tristan frowned.

"But you have Dartz here with you, on your side," Akio said. "Mako told me. Surely that will grant us safe passage. It won't take long; only several days."

"Well . . ." Yugi gave a weak smile. "I don't like to say No. . . . But maybe anyone who wants to go back through the portal can do that while you're touring."

"Sounds fair to me," Crump said.

Critias scowled but didn't comment. "Back to the palace then?" he brusquely said.

"Yes," Akio nodded. "That is one of the locations I want to share with my son."

"Then everyone strap in," Critias said.

Soon everyone was secure and Critias lifted the jet into the sky. Téa looked to Yugi with joy in her eyes. "Imagine! After all these years, Mako finally found his dad!" she exclaimed. "And we were all here to see it!"

Yugi beamed. "Yeah! It's amazing!"

"But you're worried, Yugi," Atem commented. "I can see it in your eyes."

"And I can hear it in your voice," Joey added. "What's up, Pal?"

"I don't know," Yugi sighed. "I just have a terrible feeling that something's going to go really, really wrong if any of us stay here."

"Probably because of these lousy Vorse Raiders and whoever else they've got on their side," Joey scowled.

"I wish I knew what to do," Yugi fretted. "I can't swear it's not just me being worried, and I don't like to tell Mako and his dad that they can't enjoy this place for a while. I mean, Mr. Tsunami must have gotten really fond of this whole world in over ten years!"

"But there is legitimate reason to worry, even if he doesn't think there is," Atem said. "If you were to insist on us all just going home now and then trying to think of a plan to save this dimension, I doubt anyone would blame you, Yugi."

"I just want this reunion to be really special for them," Yugi said. "Maybe there really isn't a reason to worry. I mean, we have Dartz, and he said we weren't supposed to be attacked, so maybe everything's okay."

"Let's hope," Atem said, laying a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I will support you in whatever you do."

"Thanks," Yugi said with a weak smile.

xxxx

It was a surprise to everyone when they returned to the castle and found many more of their friends had arrived.

"Joey!" Serenity exclaimed. She ran to her brother with worry shining in her eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"Of course, Serenity," Joey said in surprise. "What the heck are you doing here?! You were supposed to stay back!"

"Shadi came and told Kaiba that he was needed and that terrible things were happening over here," Serenity said. "So I knew I had to come over too!"

"Mokuba isn't here, is he?!" Seto demanded.

"He's still back home," Duke said. "Unless he showed up after we went through. . . ."

The bikers stood awkwardly. Raphael's and Dartz's eyes met and then they each looked away, not sure what to do or say. They hadn't seen each other since Raphael had determined to try to forgive Dartz, and from Raphael's expression, he wasn't sure if he had succeeded or not.

Seto looked the first group over with tense eyes. "And all of you are alright?"

"For now," Atem said.

"Mako has even found his dad," Téa beamed.

"And we were going to explore," Mako said. "But this news does not bode well. Perhaps we should leave, as so many of you felt was prudent."

"The renegades haven't posed a problem so far," Mr. Tsunami frowned. "This will be our only chance to see some of the sights together, Mako."

Mako sighed. "Maybe so, but after all that my friends have seen and been through, I feel like if they're worried I should listen. It really might not be safe, even if it seems so."

"Well . . . hey, how about this?" Yugi spoke up. "We have a magical object that can open portals. That's how we got here in the first place. How about you guys look around the castle grounds for a little bit and then you'll come home? Later, after this problem gets resolved, you can come back and enjoy things all you want without the threat of war hanging over your heads."

Mako perked up. "That is an excellent idea! What do you think, Father?"

"Hmm." Mr. Tsunami still looked disappointed and unconvinced. "After this nonsense is wrapped up, and supposing it is a big problem after all, who knows what might be destroyed by then. But . . ." He sighed. "Your friends made it possible for us to meet again, Mako. If they feel so strongly about this, we had better listen to them."

Mako relaxed. "Thank you, Father."

"But I _do_ want you to see the castle grounds," Mr. Tsunami continued. "Let's do that, at least."

"Alright," Mako smiled. "Lead on, Father."

Téa smiled too. "This was a good compromise, Yugi."

Yugi just sighed. "Then why do I still have that awful feeling?"

"Hey, the grounds should be protected," Joey protested. "I'm sure they have a ton of security!"

"Yeah, I know, but . . ." Yugi shook his head. "I'm probably just worrying unnecessarily."

Atem frowned. He really wasn't sure. "Perhaps someone should go with them while they explore," he suggested. "Just to be safe."

"I'll do it," Nesbitt grunted.

"And I'll go with him," Lector added.

Gansley nodded. "And as soon as they're done, we'll leave," he said. "When we're back on our side, we'll try to work out a plan for dealing with these renegades."

Dark Magician Girl sighed. "I wanted so badly to keep things from escalating into a war, but some of these Duel Monsters can't be reasoned with. I don't know what to do."

"The problem needs to be eradicated before it spreads," Critias insisted.

That was what Seto had been afraid of. He did not want to have to become involved in a war at all. But if the alternative was the possibility of his loved ones being hurt or killed, that was unacceptable. He would do whatever he had to in order to protect them.

Dark Magician Girl gripped her staff. "I wish there was another way. . . ."

"There isn't," Critias insisted.

"I guess there's no chance they're corrupted by something and the spell could be broken," Yugi said.

"Not everything happens because of magic," Critias retorted.

Seto gave a dry smirk. He certainly agreed.

Even if it seemed like it sometimes.

xxxx

Nesbitt was tense. He and Lector were walking through the gardens on the castle grounds, shadowing Mako and Mr. Tsunami yet trying to stay far enough back that they wouldn't be interfering in the father-son reunion tour.

"Do you think he really remembers everything?" Nesbitt wondered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"He remembers his son," Lector said. "For now, that's enough."

"But if he doesn't remember all the memories they made together through the years. . . ." Nesbitt looked to him. "I know if I had never remembered everything, we both would have felt like something was missing in our lives."

"That's true," Lector had to admit. "But even if that had been the case, I still would have been so thankful that you remembered me."

Nesbitt grunted. ". . . I also wonder how long we're going to be here," he said. "I'd rather be home."

"So would I," Lector said. "We can go through the portal any time, according to the Pharaoh."

"I know. I guess I . . . just want to make sure Mako and his father are alright." Nesbitt looked away, turning red in his awkwardness. "They're just finally together again. I don't want anything to ruin that."

Lector smiled. "I rather feel the same way," he said. "You and I, we're just soft-hearted deep down. I never would have believed it about you when we first met. But when I started to see what you're truly like, I wondered why I hadn't realized it before."

Nesbitt shrugged. "I didn't make it easy. I didn't recognize it in myself until this year."

"Once I started to see it, it was so obvious that I was sure you had always been that way and I just hadn't noticed at first," Lector said.

"Heh. Well, that goes for you too. I thought you were just a stuck-up, judgmental hypocrite until I started seeing beyond that." Nesbitt finally looked back at him. "And when I did, your true nature seemed obvious to me and I wondered why I hadn't realized either."

"All that wasted time," Lector sighed. "We could have been close long ago if we hadn't let our foolhardy judgements on each other get in the way. Crump, and later, Gansley and Johnson, all tried to tell us, but we weren't ready to listen."

"We _did_ try," Nesbitt remarked. "But something always went wrong and we'd go back to hating each other again."

"That's a word that's always thrown around so lightly these days," Lector said. "I never really hated you. I hope you never felt that strongly about me."

"No, not really," Nesbitt admitted. "I thought I did at the time, but I didn't."

The sound of something swooping out of the trees up ahead brought them sharply to attention. A Magician's Valkyria had dropped down in front of the Tsunamis, her eyes cold and hard. She raised her staff, pointing it directly at them.

"What is this?!" Mako cried.

Akio shoved him back. "Get behind me, Son," he ordered. "I'll handle this."

Nesbitt was immediately on guard. He ran forward in confusion and anger. "Leave both of them alone," he snarled. "If you don't, you'll have to contend with me." He started to raise the hand bearing the citrine ring.

"Nesbitt!" Lector exclaimed. He moved to hurry to his friend.

He never made it. The Magician's Valkyria fired. At the same moment, Nesbitt's ring lit up and the orange glow met the Spellcaster's blast head-on. The explosion from the colliding blasts rang through Lector's ears as he crashed back to the grass.

xxxx

The cold drops splashing on Lector's exposed cheek and closed eye finally startled him into consciousness. He opened his eyes, blearily looking at the grass he was laying in and the rain falling on him from above. At first nothing made sense. Why was he laying there?

He started to rise up. The navy blue suitcoat in front of him made his blood run chill. Suddenly it all came back. "Nesbitt!" he choked out. He reached out, his hands shaking, as he took Nesbitt's upper body and gently turned the man to face him. Nesbitt fell limply into place, his skin chalk-white, his eyes closed. Lector could feel that he wasn't breathing.

"_Nesbitt!"_

In horror Lector bent over his friend, desperate to force air into his lungs. But no matter how he tried, Nesbitt did not start breathing on his own. He couldn't.

"Help!" Lector screamed. "Help me!"

He really didn't know why he was screaming. There wasn't anything anyone could do now. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mako and Akio sprawled in the grass but starting to stir. The Magician's Valkyria was laying nearby, not stirring. It was obvious what had happened. Nesbitt and the Duel Monster had killed each other from the force of their blasts. The explosion had knocked the rest of them unconscious, but they would be alright . . . because of Nesbitt's sacrifice.

Finally Lector stopped trying to revive Nesbitt. He knew it wasn't going to work. Again he reached down, this time lifting Nesbitt's body into his arms. "My friend," he whispered. "My poor, brave friend, who wasn't going to let the Tsunamis' reunion be torn apart no matter what. . . ." A rare sob choked in his throat.

By the time Mako and Akio were fully conscious, they were greeted by a horrible sight. Lector was cradling Nesbitt's body close to him, his eyes broken and far away. To lose Nesbitt meant that Lector was lost too.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes: Thanks to Harry2, Azalea542, and ThickerThanLove for various suggestions throughout!**

**Chapter Six**

Everything had happened in a matter of moments. Everyone in the castle had heard the explosion, and they all came running immediately. But when they arrived, they found the same horrible scene the Tsunamis had been greeted with.

"Nesbitt?!" Johnson screamed. "Lector?!" He ran over in horror, Crump chasing after him and Gansley following as best as he could.

Lector wouldn't meet their eyes. "He's gone," he whispered. "He's gone. . . ."

"No!" Johnson tried to pull Nesbitt's body out of Lector's arms. "He's not gone! Did you even try to revive him?!"

"I tried so hard," Lector rasped. He wouldn't let go.

"What happened here?!" Gansley cried. He laid a hand on Johnson's shoulder and shook his head. Lector wasn't ready to let go.

"This is all my fault," Akio Tsunami said, badly shaken. "That Magician's Valkyria appeared and tried to strike us down. I don't understand! They're normally peaceful creatures of Light who protect other Spellcasters! But that one wanted to kill us, and this man wouldn't allow it. He blasted at her with his magical ring and then they were both laying dead from their colliding blasts. . . ." He ran a hand over his face. "If we had just gone back, it wouldn't have happened! . . ."

Mako gripped his father's shoulders. "We _were_ going back," he said. "We didn't think we wouldn't be safe on the grounds!"

"Well, what do you think now?" Crump snapped at Critias. "Was that the act of a coward?!"

". . . No," Critias admitted. "He was very valiant."

"And so are the rest of them," Atem said. "I have been proud to consider all of them my friends." He looked sadly at Nesbitt. "We have all lost a great man tonight."

"My sister!" Dark Magician Girl screamed, running over to the Magician's Valkyria. "She wasn't one of the renegades! Why . . . how . . . how could she do this?!"

Yugi fell back in horror, just staring in disbelief at the catastrophe around them. "This is my fault," he gasped. "I knew we should just go home! I knew it! But I didn't have enough confidence in myself to push it, and now . . . now it's too late. . . ." Tears cascaded from his eyes. "They're gone. . . ."

Atem laid his hands on Yugi's shoulders from behind. "This tragedy must be answered for, and we must get to the bottom of why the Magician's Valkyria attacked. But for now, we must all leave before anything else goes wrong."

Critias growled, but finally, grudgingly said, "Yes, you should. Get all these innocent civilians back to their world."

Atem heaved a shaking sigh, looking to Dark Magician Girl as his heart twisted. This was his Dark Magician Girl, the one whose presence was infused in his deck. He hated to leave her to deal with this horror and grief, but his first priority was the safety of everyone else from the human world. He would certainly come back. "I am so sorry," he said to her.

She shook her head. "I don't understand any of this!" she exclaimed. "She would never attack of her own free will!"

Atem stiffened. "Then she must have been controlled somehow," he said. "The renegades wanted someone on the inside, or perhaps they wanted to make it look like you yourself are one of them, so they did something to your sister that would make her obey their every will."

"Or the Orichalcos is already here," Dartz feared. "The way her behavior switched 180 degrees . . . that is what happened to my people . . . and me . . . when we came in extended contact with the Orichalcos stones."

Dark Magician Girl stiffened. "You're right." Her hands shaking, she searched through her sister's clothes. When she produced a familiar green stone, she dropped it to the grass like a hot rock. "No! . . ."

"Holy . . . it really is the Orichalcos," Valon exclaimed.

Alister just stared at it. "But . . . when I destroyed the Neo-Orichalcos, that was supposed to have destroyed the force that made both types of stones!"

"Obviously it didn't," Critias growled. "At least, not in our world."

"You definitely destroyed the Neo-Orichalcos," Seto said gruffly. He remembered that all too well. "But the original Orichalcos was probably already here, just waiting for someone to find it."

Dark Magician Girl got to her feet. "We have to find this stash of Orichalcos," she declared. "I won't allow any war against the renegades until we're sure that their behavior isn't the Orichalcos's fault!"

Critias gave a curt nod. "We will set out in the morning to look."

"There's one thing, though," Valon said. "The Orichalcos works with the darkness in your heart. If you've accepted your darkness, it's probably not gonna affect you. That was the case with me. My personality never changed when I used the thing."

"Maybe it affected you differently," Raphael said. "Maybe it made you think you're worse than you are. Maybe that's what it does to those Vorse Raiders too."

"Whatever it does, we'll find out," Dark Magician Girl vowed. "But now, all of you, please go back before any more tragedies happen!"

Atem nodded. "We will. But again, I am sorry." He took out the candle-holder and opened a new portal. He would close both from the other side.

Both Johnson and Crump reached to help Lector, but he stumbled to his feet without their aid, still clutching Nesbitt's body. "All of you go through first," he said blankly. "It's not too late for you."

"We won't let it be too late for you, either," Gansley said, drawing an arm around Lector's waist. "We'll all go through together."

Lector didn't protest. He stepped through with Gansley, Crump and Johnson immediately following. All the rest of the group followed suit.

This new portal came out in the Mutos' kitchen. Mrs. Muto turned from the sink in stunned shock as everyone emerged into the small room. "Yugi?! Atem?! _Dad?!_ What's going on here?!" she cried.

Solomon heaved a deep sigh. "It's a long story," he said, his heart heavy with grief and worry. He knew Yugi. The boy would not be able to get over feeling like this was his fault.

"But what . . . what is this _thing_ that just opened in space?!" Mrs. Muto demanded.

Atem mentally counted everyone to be sure they were all out before he activated the candle-holder and sealed the doorway. "That was a portal," he said. "There's another up in our room."

"Hello?" Bakura was peering into the doorway. "We're still waiting in the bedroom . . . oh. Oh my." He stared at Lector holding Nesbitt's lifeless form. "What happened?!"

It took all of Lector's strength not to just collapse on the floor and give in to the utter and complete hopelessness. "He's dead," he choked out, walking past Bakura and heading for the stairs. "My dear friend is dead."

"Someone's dead?!" Mrs. Muto screamed.

"Seto?! Lector?!" Now Mokuba was running in past Bakura. He quickly surveyed the situation, seeing that Seto was alright while Lector was most certainly not. Horrified, he ran after his friend. "Lector?!"

Lector turned at the top of the stairs and looked at the child, his eyes empty. "Nesbitt is dead," he rasped, "and right now, I feel like I've died as well."

Mokuba's heart shattered. He understood completely. "Oh Lector. . . ." Tears filled his eyes. "I'm so sorry. . . ."

"I know," Lector said. "Thank you, Mokuba. I'm glad you're alright." He started down the steps. Each one felt like a hill. At the bottom he almost stumbled and collapsed again, but he forced himself to stay balanced.

The other three were immediately surrounding him, steadying him, holding him close. "Let's go home," Gansley said quietly.

Lector gave a weak nod. _Home_ meant any one of their houses, and right now, he didn't care which one they went to.

Mokuba stared after them as they left. "Seto . . ." He turned to look at his brother, who had appeared next to him. "What happened?!"

Seto drew an arm around Mokuba and held him close. "We're still not completely sure," he said grimly. "But we're going to find out, and we're going to stop it from happening again."

Mokuba hugged Seto close as the tears continued to fall. "But . . . that won't bring Nesbitt back," he whispered.

"No," Seto agreed. "It won't." His eyes darkened. Nesbitt had died heroically, fighting off someone who shouldn't have even been an enemy. He was relieved that Mokuba hadn't been over there when it had happened, but he feared for his brother's safety as long as this problem was unsolved. Dark Magician Girl could open portals too. What if the Orichalcos corrupted her and then she decided to bridge the gap between their dimensions? Seto wouldn't trust that it wasn't possible. They were all in danger as long as the Orichalcos was still out there.

"What are we gonna do?" Mokuba asked.

"I don't know," Seto admitted. He was at a loss to know what to do now.

Atem hugged Yugi close. "But we must come up with some kind of a plan, even if right now that's just joining in the search for the Orichalcos stash."

"I guess that's the most important thing to do right now," Seto growled. "I'll help. I wish we had some kind of tracking technology to hunt it down faster."

"You could invent it, Seto," Mokuba said.

"Yeah, but not overnight," Seto sighed. "Plus I'd need a sample of the Orichalcos to build it, and I don't want that thing anywhere near me for as long as that would take."

Mokuba shuddered. "I sure don't either."

"We'll just have to search the old-fashioned way and pray it will be quick enough to stop any more calamities," Atem said.

Seto nodded in agreement.

Yugi drew a shaking breath and looked to Mako. "Do you and your dad need a place to stay tonight?"

"We're set up in the Royal Hotel, Yugi," Mako quietly replied. "Thank you for asking."

Yugi weakly smiled. "I'm glad you guys are together."

"So am I," Akio said, laying a strong hand on Mako's shoulder. "I only wish the same could be said for those poor men."

Yugi nodded and looked away. "Yeah. . . . Me too," he whispered. "Me too. . . ."

xxxx

Lector barely spoke on the drive home. He sat silently in the limousine, cradling Nesbitt's body close to him. He wasn't catatonic, as he would respond when talked to, but he just didn't have the strength or the heart to keep talking.

"I was right there and I couldn't do anything," he whispered.

"If you had activated your ring, you would be dead as well," Gansley said quietly. "I know you feel like perhaps death wouldn't be so terrible right now, but you wouldn't want the rest of us to lose two and not just one, would you?"

Lector shook his head. "Of course not. But I . . . I don't know how I will ever get over this or be the same as I was before."

"You can't," Gansley said. "Loss isn't something you get over. It becomes part of who you are. None of us will ever get over this."

"Yeah," Crump said, his voice thick. "We all love Nesbitt and we're all close. But I know you two . . . you really had something unique and special going. You guys became inseparable. That's . . . that's why people like Gozaburo and Yami Marik targeted you two so much. They saw how your relationship was changing and getting deeper."

"We . . . we were just talking about that before . . ." Lector couldn't keep talking. The clenching in his throat made it impossible.

The limousine stopped.

"We're at my house," Gansley said quietly.

Lector fumbled with the door and finally got it open. "I . . . I don't know how I'm going to let him go," he rasped. He stumbled out into a lightly falling snow, still holding Nesbitt's body.

"Don't worry about that right now," Gansley said. "Just take him upstairs. Be with him. We'll come in a bit. And don't forget to change out of your wet clothes."

Lector weakly nodded. As they reached the porch, Gansley unlocked and opened the door for him and he went in, not even remembering to politely stamp the snow off his shoes before heading for the stairs. No one pointed it out.

It was only after a door upstairs quietly closed that Johnson couldn't hold back any longer. He sobbed, sinking back against the wall and then slowly to his knees. Crump and Gansley hurried to support him, but Crump ended up sinking down with him. "Oh Buddy . . ." He hugged Johnson close.

Johnson gripped the knees of his trousers. "I . . . I couldn't break down in front of poor Lector, but . . ." He choked.

"I know," Crump said softly. "Man, I know. . . ." His voice was getting thick now. "And I dunno how I'm gonna tell George. . . ."

"George?!" Johnson said in disbelief.

"He liked Nesbitt. I could tell," Crump insisted. "I mean . . . of course he didn't like him like we do, but I mean . . ." He trailed off. "Oh, I know I'm just sounding ridiculous. . . ."

Johnson shook his head. "You're just trying to deal with grief, the same as I am."

Gansley gripped his cane and just watched. He felt so helpless. And as always, he couldn't really feel free to take the time to grieve. He had to be strong for everyone else. He turned away, unable to stop several tears from slipping down his face.

"Hey," Crump rasped, "I just realized. . . . We didn't get to do that legal adoption thing. And now Nesbitt . . . he can't even be part of it. . . ."

"We're still going to do it," Gansley growled. "And Nesbitt _will_ be part of it. We'll list him on the papers."

Crump looked up at him. "Gansley . . . we know you're hurting too. . . . It's not a sin to show it. . . ."

Gansley shook his head. "Johnson couldn't bring himself to cry in front of Lector. I can't do it in front of any of you. I . . . can't. . . ." He held a hand to his forehead.

"Gansley. . . ." Crump got up and hugged him close. He didn't say more, but he didn't need to.

Johnson got to his feet and came over, embracing Gansley as well. He also didn't speak.

Gansley heaved a shaking sigh. He was glad that two of his friends were there.

For a long moment they stayed there like that, silently trying to make sense of it all and drawing strength from each other's presence.

". . . Should we really keep leaving Lector up there alone with . . . ?" Johnson said at last.

"No," Gansley said. Trying to pull himself together, he gripped his cane and started towards the stairs. "We're going to have to say Goodbye and . . . call the mortuary. . . ."

"I know," Crump said. "I sure don't wanna, though. . . ."

"I'll do it," Gansley said stiffly.

"Why not have one of the servants do it?" Johnson said. "I know none of us wants to have to. . . ."

Gansley paused at the bottom of the stairs. "Perhaps, in some strange way, I want to do it myself instead of delegating the task to a servant. It's . . . one of the last things I can do for him now. . . ."

Crump laid a hand on his shoulder. "I guess that's true. . . . I didn't think of it like that. . . ."

Gansley sighed. ". . . Let's go up." He started up the stairs, looking tired and old. Crump and Johnson quickly followed.

xxxx

Lector laid Nesbitt on the bed in the room Lector always claimed when they stayed over at Gansley's house. The motionless form went down just as Lector put him, not moving in spite of Lector's most agonized prayers and wishes.

Lector stepped back, his hands shaking as he started to peel off his wet suitcoat and undo his tie. "Ex-excuse me for a moment," he stammered in grief. Just another way he was struggling to deal with his anguish; he knew Nesbitt wouldn't reply.

He disappeared into the bathroom and quickly changed clothes. He wished more than anything that Nesbitt would have moved when he came back, but he saw that was absolutely not to be.

Trembling more, he slipped out of the room and next-door to Nesbitt's room, quickly gathering underwear, pajamas, and a towel and hurrying back. Nesbitt didn't usually wear both parts of pajamas, preferring tank tops or T-shirts, but it was cold and somehow Lector wanted to dress him warmly, even though he knew it was ludicrous. Really, he didn't have to get Nesbitt out of the wet clothes at all. Still, he felt he had to, somehow.

He drew a shaking breath as he reached for Nesbitt's body and lifted him, resting him against his shoulder as he started to slip the limp arms out of the suitcoat's sleeves. "I am sorry," he whispered. "I know you won't like this. You'll feel awkward, maybe even embarrassed, to need help. And that will probably bother you more than my having to strip all of these wet clothes off of you." He set the suitcoat aside and went for the tie next.

_Please talk to me,_ he said silently. _Please move, or groan, or do anything to show me you're not dead. . . ._

But of course there was no response.

Lector really didn't know how he managed to keep from breaking down as he worked. Sometimes he still told himself over and over that Nesbitt was hurt, not dead, because otherwise he just couldn't take it. But the truth always stabbed him within the next moments, when he couldn't feel Nesbitt's chest rising and falling or when there was no breath on his hands. Nesbitt was so limp, and of course the task was difficult without anyone to help Lector lift him to get the wet clothes off and the dry clothes on, but he didn't feel like calling for the others yet. It was a private moment, and he knew it would be their last. At last he finished, and for a long time he just sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his friend's body in helplessness and anguish.

". . . I wonder where you are now," he said at last. "Did you already move on to Heaven, or are you still here? Are you trying to communicate with me right now and I just can't hear you or feel your presence because I'm so lost in grief?

". . . I hope you'd get sent to the right afterlife. You wouldn't end up in the Duel Monsters' afterlife because you died in their world, would you? . . . No, I can't imagine God letting that happen."

He gripped a handful of quilt. "God. . . . Imagine me really thinking about Him again, and knowing He's real. . . . I fell away so long ago and got caught up in so many worldly ventures. . . . I even lost my honor eventually. I know you'd disagree, but it's true.

". . . You were so happy today, excited about your submarine being a hit. . . . Was that really only this morning? It feels like an eternity ago now. And then you saw that Gradius. . . ." He couldn't continue this line of thought. It was shattering his heart too much.

He stood and walked to the window, then turned back. "You're so limp now, but you'll be getting stiff soon. I can't bear to be around for that.

"You know I'll try to go on, don't you? I'll have to, for the others' sakes. . . . Of course I'm thankful they're still alive, and naturally I want to be with them. But . . . honestly, Nesbitt, I never wanted to die before in my life, until I woke up and found you and all the others laying dead around me after Khu killed you. Both then and right now . . . death doesn't sound that bad. I'm halfway there now; part of me died with you. Oh, don't worry . . . I'm not suicidal. I'm just thinking . . ." He shut his eyes tightly. "There's actually a reason to look forward to death . . . because you're there and I'll see you again, and talk to you. . . ."

He was just about to his breaking point when the door slowly opened and Gansley stepped inside, followed by Crump and Johnson.

"I'm sorry, Lector," Gansley quietly told him. "I'm sure you know we have to call the mortuary."

Lector went stiff. "I . . . can't," he choked out. "I know we have to, but . . . I can't. I _can't. . . ._"

Crump walked over to him and hugged him close. "I know, Buddy. . . . I know. . . ."

Lector looked to him in grief. "You were Nesbitt's first friend out of all of us," he remembered. "I didn't like him for so long, and I had trouble getting along with him even after I started to like him, and now I feel like my soul is torn in two!"

Crump gave him a sad smile. "Yeah. Like I said, you two had something real special. We're all nuts about each other and all that, but you guys . . . I think in some ways, you were the closest pair among us. Maybe it means even more because it took you guys so long to get to that point."

Lector shook his head. "I'll never recover from this. . . . I know I wouldn't if it was any of you, but . . ."

"You don't havta say it, Buddy," Crump soothed. "We know."

Gansley had taken the moment to speak quietly to Nesbitt without being overheard. He smoothed the younger man's hair back and laid his hand on his chest before stepping back.

Johnson came forward to try to say his Goodbyes next, but he found himself just staring at Nesbitt instead. Finally he choked and shook his head. He would have to try again later. He couldn't do this right now.

Crump somehow managed to keep himself composed long enough to speak softly to Nesbitt, gripping his other hand before stepping back.

Lector drew a shaking breath. It was his turn, but he didn't know what to say or do or even think. He felt blank, empty, as he tried to think of more to say. Nesbitt was his dear friend, his brother. He stood over the other man for a long time, not speaking, not knowing how or what to even say that would possibly begin to encompass his feelings. Still, he had to do something. This was his last chance. Finally he bent down, kissing Nesbitt on the forehead.

Somehow that act shattered whatever ability he'd had to keep himself composed. His grief-stricken anguish took over and he sobbed, grabbing Nesbitt's hand between his as his knees suddenly grew weak. He crashed to the floor by the side of the bed.

"Buddy . . ."

He could hear Crump starting to move to him in concern, but Gansley stopped him and held him back. Lector needed this moment.

The stirring under Lector's hands nearly startled him out of his mind. He looked up with a jerk. He hadn't jostled the body; Nesbitt was opening his eyes and looking down at him in confusion. "Lector . . . ?"

Lector just kept staring, unable to believe this was real. "Nesbitt?!" He clutched the hand tighter. "You're dead. . . ."

"You're not dead!" Crump exclaimed, tearing over now. "What the heck?!" He hugged Nesbitt as best as he could with Lector still there. "Is this a fairytale world or something?!"

"Fairytale . . . what?" Nesbitt weakly hugged Crump and then slowly sat up, looking to Lector.

Johnson and Gansley were hurrying over now too. "Lector kissed you," Johnson explained. "And . . . you woke up. . . ."

Nesbitt was still trying to grasp what was going on. He felt foggy, like he was coming out of a deep sleep. But apparently the others hadn't thought it was just a deep sleep. "Lector . . . ?" He looked at his friend, who was still just staring at him, stock-still, trying to work out in his mind if this was really happening or if he had lost his mind and was imagining it.

Finally Lector came to life. "Nesbitt!" He choked on a sob as he pulled the other man close. "You're alive! You're alive. . . ."

Nesbitt, stunned and confused, slowly hugged back.

Gansley smiled. "Welcome home, Nesbitt." He laid a hand on Nesbitt's shoulder.

"You all thought I was dead," Nesbitt realized. "I'm sorry. . . . I didn't mean . . ."

"You were protecting Lector and the Tsunami family," Johnson said. "And you were struck down. . . . But it really must have been like a fairytale, wasn't it? It was an enchanted death . . . something reversible. . . ."

"But we all love him," Crump said. "Why weren't we all able to bring him back with our feelings? And why does it have to be a kiss?"

Gansley shook his head. "I don't know why fairytales tend to work that way. Let's just be grateful something worked."

They all certainly were. They surrounded the bed, all embracing Nesbitt at once.

Nesbitt looked around at all of them, his true family, his brothers, and he smiled. He gripped them as tightly as he could.

It was Johnson who looked up first with a sudden realization. "If you're alive, then what if the Magician's Valkyria is too?! We need to get a message to that Dark Magician Girl that she needs to see if it's an enchanted death!"

"You're right," Gansley exclaimed. "I'll call Yugi." He hurriedly stepped back and took out his phone.

"Magician's Valkyria?" Nesbitt sank back into the pillow, stunned. "The one who attacked us?"

"Apparently she was under the control of the Orichalcos," Lector explained. "And she's that Dark Magician Girl's sister."

"Oh." Nesbitt held a hand to his forehead. "Yeah, you'd better let her know. . . ."

"Are you alright, Nesbitt?" Lector asked in concern.

"I'm fine," Nesbitt assured him. "Just a little dizzy. . . ." He frowned. "I wonder if you could say that magic is like a computer program and it needs a specific end command to stop. Maybe the kiss is like that end command. . . ."

"So maybe just loving ain't good enough and it needs some kinda action for the magic to recognize it?" Crump said. "Maybe that makes sense. Figures you'd try makin' some computer explanation out of it." He gave a fond smile.

"That's the only way I know how to look at the world," Nesbitt said.

"No," Lector said softly as he reached to grip Nesbitt's hand. So warm, and full of life, unlike how cold and still it had felt only moments earlier. . . . He shook himself back to the present. "Nesbitt, you look at the world like a kind and caring human being. I didn't even realize how deeply you could feel until early this year, when you thought you'd lost me. And . . . I'm not sure I knew how deeply I could grieve . . . until tonight. I . . . didn't know how I was going to go on, even though I of course knew I was going to try."

Nesbitt looked at him in alarm. "Lector . . ."

"I'm alright now," Lector insisted.

"But I've got another disturbing question," Crump exclaimed. "If Lector hadn't kissed you, does that mean we would've buried you alive?!"

Nesbitt went stiff. Clearly that hadn't occurred to him.

"I refuse to believe that would've happened," Lector said fiercely. "One way or another, we would have got you back, through Shadi coming to tell us the truth or some other inadvertent method of breaking the spell."

The others certainly wanted to believe that as well. But for now, they just wanted to focus on the reality that Nesbitt was alive and back with them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Yugi was a wreck. Nothing that Atem or Solomon or the others said could serve to comfort him. Mrs. Muto, baffled but worried, lingered to find out what was going on but certainly didn't know how to help. She was still trying to deal with knowing that Yugi and the others dealt with supernatural goings-on and that Yugi was supposed to be the leader. Now, of course, Yugi didn't want anything to do with the idea.

"I was never any good at trying to lead," he sobbed. "Atem, you should take over again! This never would have happened if you'd been in charge!"

"We don't know that, Yugi," Atem retorted. "I might have made the very same decision!"

"People didn't die on your watch," Yugi insisted.

Atem looked away. "They did in Egypt. And in the present-day, I allowed the Orichalcos to fuel my rage and put you in danger. You would have been lost forever if we hadn't stopped Dartz!"

"The whole world would've been lost forever," Joey remarked. "But Atem's right, Yug. He's made mistakes too."

Téa nodded. "You can't blame this all on yourself! The Orichalcos is the real bad guy here!" She looked at Yugi with pleading eyes. "Yugi . . ."

Rebecca blinked back tears that only returned. "Yugi, I can't stand to see you like this!" she exclaimed. She felt so helpless. She wanted more than anything to ease Yugi's pain, but it was such a shock to see him in such a state that she was at a complete loss. And judging from Mrs. Muto's expression, she felt much the same.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," Yugi said sorrowfully. "I can't risk endangering anyone else! Atem, when we go back to look for the Orichalcos, _please_ take over for me! Please lead . . . like you always used to. . . ."

Atem looked helpless. "Yugi . . . when terrible things happened while I was in charge, I wanted to quit too. I certainly felt like it during the Orichalcos calamity. But you gave me the strength to go on! You helped me see that I had to keep going, even if I felt like I couldn't. And because of you, I was able to do exactly that! Oh, there were still rough times, but I kept going anyway because I knew I had to! And what I feared most—falling to the darkness again—never came to pass!"

Yugi looked up at him. "But that was something you could control," he objected.

"Then you admit you couldn't control this," Solomon said. "Yugi, everyone made their own decisions. Nesbitt chose to go with Mako and his father."

"Because I said for us to stay," Yugi said. "If I'd said for us to go home, we all would have done that!"

"For all you know, Mr. Tsunami might have decided to stay on to show Mako some of the sights anyway," Duke said. "He'd just met us; he had no real reason to agree to what any of us said."

"I know, but . . ." Yugi looked away.

Serenity bit her lip. She had tried and failed not to cry. Nesbitt had held a special place in her heart; she had seen him at his worst and she had watched him rise to become his best. But she hated to see Yugi tearing himself up inside over what had happened.

The ringing of his phone startled everyone. Atem picked it up from where Yugi had left it on the coffee table. "Yugi, it's Gansley," he said in surprise.

Yugi took the phone in shock. "H-Hello?" he stammered.

"Hello, Yugi," came Gansley's deep voice. "I realize it's late, but this couldn't wait until morning. Is the Pharaoh with you?"

"Yeah, he's right here," Yugi said, surprised. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"No. You just tell him to open a portal back to the Dark Magician Girl's castle. Someone needs to tell her to look for signs of an enchanted death where her sister is concerned." Gansley paused. "Yugi, Nesbitt is alive."

Yugi almost dropped the phone. "W-What?!" He sank into the couch. "Are you sure? Really?"

"Yes." Gansley was smiling now. "Lector was trying to bid him a devastated Goodbye, and instead he revived. He's alright."

"Alive," Yugi whispered. A tear fell from his eye. He looked up at the others in joy. "Nesbitt's alive!"

Serenity looked up with hopeful eyes. "He is?!"

"Yugi," Atem gasped.

"You're sure?!" Téa exclaimed.

"It's not possible," Rebecca frowned. She didn't want Yugi getting his hopes up when it couldn't be true!

Overhearing, Gansley said, "He's right here with us." A slight pause. "Here, Nesbitt. Let them know it's not just an old man's fantasy."

"Hello. . . ." Nesbitt sounded awkward, maybe even slightly embarrassed. "I really am alright. . . ."

"You're okay," Yugi whispered. "You're really okay. . . ."

Atem smiled in relief, but just as quickly sobered. "And we'd really better let Dark Magician Girl know right away," he said. "I have no idea what kinds of funerary rituals they have over there." He stood and took out the candle-holder. "I'm going over right now."

Yugi got up too. "I'm going with you," he said.

"We're all going," Tristan determined.

"It should just take a few minutes," Atem said. "We all need some sleep before the search starts later today."

"We're going anyway," Téa insisted.

Yugi turned his attention back to the phone. "Thanks so much for letting us know, Gansley," he said. "I'll let you know how things go over there."

"Just be careful," Gansley gruffly told him.

"We will," Yugi promised. He hung up with joy overflowing in his heart.

"Well, Pal? How do you feel now?" Joey asked.

"I'm so glad he's alright," Yugi said softly. "I still made a terrible mistake; there's no getting around that. But he's okay, so I have to move forward. If I have any more bad feelings like that, I'm going to listen to them!"

"Oh Yugi!" Rebecca ran over, hugging him close.

Téa scowled but found she couldn't really be too upset. It was definitely a wonderful thing to see Yugi happy again.

"That's a good plan," Atem said to Yugi with a nod. He opened the portal. "Let's go relieve another's pain."

Yugi happily followed him through the portal.

xxxx

Nesbitt was still awake in the wee hours of the morning. All the others had been awake as well, talking far into the night. But eventually most of them had dropped off to sleep in various parts of the room. Lector, still sitting on the bed with Nesbitt, remained awake and had been texting everyone to let them know the amazing news.

"Are you really alright?" Nesbitt asked in concern.

Lector sighed. "I suppose I'm afraid to sleep," he admitted. "Afraid of what I'll dream . . . or worse, that I'll find out I'm dreaming right now and the reality is that you're gone."

Nesbitt looked away. "I . . . heard some of what you were saying to me, I think. . . . I heard it through a fog over my mind. I am . . . so sorry. I never wanted to cause you such pain."

"I know," Lector said. "And I know you had to do what you did. I certainly would have been capable of doing the same thing."

"Especially since you've already scared me more than once because of stunts you pulled," Nesbitt grunted. "But I promise you that this is the reality. I'm alive."

Lector managed a weak smile. "It had better be."

Nesbitt looked down at himself. "I'm guessing you did this?" he said, raising one arm to study the hanging sleeve.

Lector nodded. "We were both sopped; I woke up with it raining. I know you don't like pajama tops much, so feel free to change out of it."

Nesbitt didn't acknowledge that. "You changed my clothes when you thought I was dead?!" He looked troubled.

"I had to," Lector insisted. "I knew you were gone, and yet . . . I just couldn't leave you like that. . . ."

Nesbitt shook his head. "I never could have done it. Handling my friend's corpse that much . . . I just couldn't."

"I suppose . . . part of me still kept hoping you would wake up," Lector said, his voice cracking. "And I knew if you stayed in those wet clothes, you might catch a cold, or pneumonia."

"I probably would have," Nesbitt conceded. "But I still don't think I could have done it if our roles had been reversed. And what you did that woke me up . . . I think the only way I could ever do that would be if I knew it was an enchanted death and that would break it. It would just chill me too much to kiss a body I knew was dead."

"When it came time to say Goodbye, I just couldn't," Lector said. "My mind was blank. That was all I could think of to do." He looked away. "And then it really hit me that I'd just said Goodbye and . . . I broke."

"Caring about people really does hurt," Nesbitt growled.

"It sure does," Lector said.

". . . But to not care made me feel half-alive, if that," Nesbitt added. He sighed. "It's so confusing."

"I can't deny that either," Lector said. "But I would rather care, despite the pain."

"I've come to feel the same way," Nesbitt said. He sank farther against the pillow.

Lector gave him a fond look. "You should really get some decent sleep yourself. I'm sure being in an enchanted death doesn't qualify."

"I'll sleep if you will," Nesbitt countered.

Lector finally sighed. "Alright." He pushed himself down so his head was on one of the pillows.

Nesbitt laid down on the other one.

Even though neither of them thought they would really be able to sleep, they both dozed off within moments. When Gansley stirred sometime later and looked over at them, they had rolled over in reach of each other, each draping an arm over the other.

"Heh." Gansley smiled and got up from the chair to find a quilt, which he spread over his friends since they were sleeping on top of the covers.

Crump stirred, sleepily looking over at them as the quilt came down. "Aww." He smiled.

"Just like it should be," Johnson added from his chair.

"They're going to be alright," Gansley said. "Meanwhile, perhaps we should think about going to our rooms to finish out the night."

"It would sure be more pleasant than waking up with a stiff neck," Crump said, rubbing his in emphasis.

"It really is real, isn't it?" Johnson said, suddenly fearful. "It's not a dream we'll wake up from? . . ."

"It is very real," came a new voice.

The three men jumped. Shadi was standing in the doorway.

"You!" Crump exclaimed. "Now you can tell us. We wouldn't have buried Nesbitt alive, would we?!"

"No," Shadi said. "Had the spell not been inadvertently broken by Lector's grief, I would have come to let you know the truth. Nesbitt still has an important part to play in what is unfolding."

"And is that the only reason you would have told us the truth?" Johnson asked. His eyes were darkly narrowed in his grim suspicions. "You know, you could have told us from the beginning and spared us all the heartache!"

Shadi opted not to answer. "There is still much to be done before this problem is solved."

"And will we ever have a chance to be at peace?" Johnson snapped. "We never asked to be protectors of the world! We never wanted it!"

Gansley laid a hand on Johnson's shoulder to calm him. "Johnson is right," he growled. "This is my family. I have to look out for them, and how can I when we keep being dragged into dangerous situations week after week?"

"There will come a time of peace," Shadi said. "Exactly when, I cannot say." And then he was gone.

"Typical," Crump snorted. "But at least I don't havta be haunted thinking we might've buried Nesbitt alive. . . ." He shuddered. "That was giving me the creeps like you wouldn't believe."

"I'm sure I'd believe it," Johnson said with a shudder of his own.

"No matter Shadi's reasons, we have to be thankful for that," Gansley agreed. "And I do think we should try getting some proper sleep."

"I'm sure I'll be able to now," Crump said, casting a fond look at his slumbering friends.

"I hope I can," Johnson said. "I'm sure this won't be the last horror we go through, and there's no way everything will always work out for us!"

"No, there isn't," Gansley agreed. "But I know you're overjoyed that everything is alright this time."

"Yes . . . of course." Johnson looked to Nesbitt and Lector and smiled too. "And I'll have to focus on that for now instead of worrying about the future."

Gansley nodded in agreement. "Although we will have to worry about the future soon," he sighed. "But for tonight, let's just be thankful." He led Crump and Johnson out of the room, leaving it slightly ajar behind them.

xxxx

Mokuba had been unable to sleep. Seto had wanted him to try, and for a while he had cried into his pillow. Then, when sleep still refused to come, he decided on a whim to do something strange. He got out his phone and typed _Makarios _into the search bar. He couldn't think of anything else to do to help, so maybe he could find the secret of his ancestor and the Big Five's ancestors.

Most of the results were Greek name sites, he discovered in frustration. But he kept scrolling, and at last on page 5 he found a webpage written by a professor of ancient history. He clicked, hoping against hope for something good.

_My research has turned up carvings of a very similar person in physical appearance, always by the name of Makarios or some variant of it, in various cultures throughout the ancient world. I say similar appearance, but there have been some gradual changes throughout the ages. The earliest carvings depict a small boy, likely no older than ten years of age. Later carvings show a teenage youth, and the most recent carvings feature him in what seems to be his early twenties. But since it is of course physically impossible for it to be the same person through the centuries, perhaps it is his family line through various times of the world._

Mokuba frowned as he studied the photographs of the carvings. The kid really did look similar. The professor was probably right and it was a whole family line. After all, the carvings looked like Mokuba himself, and he certainly hadn't lived all through the centuries.

On the other hand, though . . .

Mokuba leaned back as a strange new thought struck him. Had they ever really known that it was the Orichalcos preserving Dartz's life for so long? What if it was the Atlanteans' natural lifespan? What if all the carvings really did depict the same person, Makarios, and he had traveled the world, settling in various empires through the ages? Maybe he had altered his name to fit in with wherever he went . . . or even to try to hide from Dartz.

And what about the Big Five's ancestors? Had they lived and traveled with him? So many unanswered questions. . . .

Mokuba took note of the professor's email address at the bottom of the webpage. He might want to try contacting the guy at some point. But meanwhile . . . maybe he would start searching for any possible clues that Makarios was still around. If he was, maybe he could reunite him with Critias, and also prove that the Big Five's ancestors weren't cowards. It wouldn't bring Nesbitt back, but nothing could do that. Mokuba wanted to do something to help someone, even though he couldn't help his own Big Five.

His phone dinged with a message and he clicked it in surprise.

_Hello, Mokuba. I hope you're asleep, but in case you aren't,_

_I wanted to tell you tonight. Nesbitt is alive! He was put into_

_an enchanted death by that magic blast. I revived him in my_

_grief and sorrow and he's sitting next to me right now._

Mokuba stared at the message, running it over and over in his mind and reading it aloud in a whisper. "Alive," he repeated in joyous disbelief. "He's alive. . . ." He hugged the phone close to him and leaped out of bed. Knowing Seto, he was probably still awake. He had to share the good news.

Seto was indeed awake, staring into his laptop screen in his home office. But when Mokuba ran in, Seto's phone was going off. He frowned as he picked it up and looked at the incoming text. Then he went stiff.

"It's from Lector, right?" Mokuba said from the doorway.

Seto shook his head. "Nesbitt's alive," he said in disbelief. "I wonder if it's really true or if Lector's lost himself in his grief. Maybe he invented all of this in his mind because he just couldn't accept Nesbitt's death."

"Then contact one of the others and make sure it's for real," Mokuba replied. "But I'm gonna believe it is." He smiled.

"I hope it is," Seto said, "for your sake . . . and for theirs."

Mokuba beamed. But his joy faded as he saw Seto's computer screen. He had been writing down everything they knew about the Duel Monsters' dimension. "You're really going over there again, aren't you?" he said softly.

"We need to round up the Orichalcos before any more disasters happen," Seto said. "If we could find the source, maybe we could destroy it and that would de-power all the individual stones that might have found their way to various owners."

"Yeah. . . ." Mokuba looked down. "But I don't want you to get hurt, Seto. . . . Who knows what else might happen! There's a lot of ways to die over there for real, no coming back!"

"Which is why I still don't want you coming," Seto said sternly.

Mokuba scowled. "I won't. I know I'd probably make everything worse."

Seto sighed. "I know we've told you before, Mokuba, but you have helped all of us so much." He gripped his brother's shoulders. "Because of you, I never completely sank into the darkness. Your hope and light kept me strong during the worst years of my life. You bridged the gap between me and Yugi's group, extending friendship to them when I wasn't ready to. You also brought Noa back to the light, and because of that, he saved all of us. And you saved Lector. Because of that, the rest of the Big Five's hearts began to soften too. You know how much that has meant to them, and how much they've done for the rest of us. None of that would have been possible without you."

Mokuba thought about that. "I guess sometimes . . . it sounds so amazing that I could really make that big a difference that sometimes I can hardly believe it."

"Believe it," Seto said firmly. "It's all true." He hugged Mokuba close. "All of us owe so much to you."

Mokuba returned the hug and snuggled close. "I'm glad."

xxxx

The castle was in mourning when Atem, Yugi, and the others went back through the portal. Magician's Valkyria was laid out on a slab of marble surrounded by candles. Critias looked like he didn't know what to think of the elaborate wake given the circumstances of her death, but he dutifully said nothing and stood by as Dark Magician Girl bent over the slab and looked down sorrowfully at her sister.

Atem hurried over. "I bring urgent news," he told her. "You must check for signs that this is an enchanted death!"

Dark Magician Girl looked up with a start. "Pharaoh. . . . Why do you say this?"

"Because the man who was struck down with her is alive," Atem replied.

"That's ridiculous," Critias spoke now. "When she attacked, she was clearly out for blood."

"Was she?" Atem returned. "Perhaps she was struggling against the Orichalcos enough that she was able to change her attack to something that could be reversed."

Dark Magician Girl's eyes widened. "Well, I am certainly going to see if this is possible! If Nesbitt is alive, there's no reason why my sister can't be!" She took one of the limp hands in hers. "My dear sister . . . please wake up. . . ." She bent down, kissing Magician's Valkyria on the cheek.

At first there was no reaction. But then the limp Duel Monster's eyes fluttered and started to open. "Sister . . . ?"

Dark Magician Girl brightened in joy. "You're alright!" She hugged her close and looked over at Atem. "Thank you so much, my Pharaoh."

Atem smiled and nodded. "I'm glad we were in time, and that we were right. We'll leave you for now, but we'll be back to search for the Orichalcos by morning."

Dark Magician Girl returned the nod. "We'll see you then."

Critias watched as the group vanished back through the portal and closed it after them. "We need to find out what your sister was doing with the Orichalcos," he said.

"There'll be time for that," Dark Magician Girl said. She stood back, allowing Magician's Valkyria to slide off the slab while still holding her hand.

The older Duel Monster looked badly shaken. "I can't believe I really attacked those poor people. . . . And the man who stood up to me and blasted back . . . is he hurt?"

"He's going to be fine, thanks to your putting him in an enchanted death instead of really killing him," Dark Magician Girl smiled. "Was that on purpose?"

"I . . . yes," Magician's Valkyria stammered. "I never meant to become so lost in the darkness that I would really kill the innocent. I found that evil stone and I thought maybe I could use it to infiltrate the rebels . . . but it took me over instead."

Critias growled. "The Orichalcos always deceives whoever is foolish enough to pay it any heed."

"I think we've all found that out the hard way," Dark Magician Girl said quietly, and from her tone of voice she was also thinking about when Atem had fallen to its poison.

"I hope I will have the chance to tell all of them how sorry I am," Magician's Valkyria said.

"I think you will," Dark Magician Girl smiled at her. "They're all coming back in the morning to help look for the source of the Orichalcos. Do you remember where you found your stone?"

"It was the only one in the area, but yes, I certainly remember," Magician's Valkyria said. "I can lead everyone to it."

From Critias's expression, he still wondered how much to trust her. But he said nothing, opting instead to hope and pray that his black-and-white trust and skepticism would not prove correct this time. He couldn't bear to see his beloved ruler's heart broken again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes: Thanks to Mega M for various plot suggestions in the last several chapters! And oddly enough, I can't find any proof that the Orichalcos sustained Dartz's life through the many centuries. It's a popular fandom trope, but the dub doesn't say it and I can't find that the original did either, so I decided to take a different route.**

**Chapter Eight**

Valon was surprised when he went downstairs early the next morning and found Alister sitting wearily at the table, nursing a cup of hot chocolate. "What's up, chum?" he asked.

Alister stared at his phone. "I got a message that that man is alive. He was in an enchanted death."

"Oh yeah? I thought that didn't happen in real-life." Valon poured some hot chocolate and slid in at the table. "You don't look too happy about it. I thought you got over wantin' to dance on their graves."

Alister scowled. "I never liked them, but . . . knowing what Nesbitt did last night, and seeing how upset his friends were . . . I've been having to deal with the realization that they're not the heartless warmongers I thought they were."

"Former warmongers," Raphael grunted as he entered the kitchen. His Ragdoll cat Liu purred in his arms.

Alister traced a pattern on the table with a finger. "Kaiba was right when he told me I was a hypocrite to say I hated war. I know I was corrupted by the Orichalcos at the time, but . . . what could be more of a warmonger than someone willing to destroy the entire world to supposedly wipe out war? All the innocent people who would be killed. . . . All the kids just like my brother. . . ."

Raphael sat down at the table with Liu on his lap. "It sounds like you've been doing a lot of soul-searching."

Alister nodded. "I can't in good conscience hate the Big Five, especially not after last night . . . and especially not after what I've been thinking about myself." He sighed and finished his drink. "I'm glad Nesbitt's alright."

"I'm sure we all are." Raphael petted Liu and got up, leaving her on his chair. "We'd better get breakfast and then head out to help look for the Orichalcos stones."

Valon nodded. "It's gonna regret makin' enemies of all of us!"

Alister had to smirk a bit. Not much got Valon down for long. "It probably will," he said as he stood as well.

xxxx

Everyone mutually agreed that the Big Five should sit out the search for the Orichalcos, at least for that day. Seto decided to leave Mokuba with them and head off with the others who were going to participate in the search. When he called Gansley's house, Gansley agreed to that idea.

Gansley was the only one currently awake when Mokuba arrived. "How are you feeling, Mokuba?" he asked.

"I'm okay," Mokuba said. "But what about you guys?! You're the ones who really suffered yesterday. . . ."

"We're all exhausted and we've had more than enough of magic," Gansley admitted.

"Heh. Join the club," Seto grunted.

Mokuba looked around. "Where's Nesbitt? And Lector?"

"Everyone else is still asleep," Gansley said. "I might go back to bed myself for a while."

"You should," Mokuba said. "I'll be okay." He looked to Seto. "But try to call or text and let me know how things are going," he pleaded.

"I will," Seto promised.

After he left, Mokuba settled on the couch and took out his laptop. Gansley watched him for a moment and then started to turn to head upstairs. "You're sure you'll be alright down here," he said.

"Oh yeah." Mokuba smiled at him. "I've got a lot to do. You just go on back to bed. I'm sure you didn't get much sleep."

"I didn't," Gansley grunted in agreement. "Alright then. Let one of the servants know if you need anything."

"Right. Thanks!" Mokuba waited until Gansley moved tiredly up the stairs before booting up the laptop and opening the web browser. In a moment he had typed _Makarios_ into the search bar and leaned back to wait.

The results on this browser's search were much the same, but Mokuba soon picked out another result that wasn't a Greek name site. He quickly clicked.

He slumped back, stunned, when the site loaded and it seemed to belong to some type of Grecian artifacts import/export corporation based in California. "Why would this come up?" he wondered.

A quick scroll-through soon revealed the truth—someone named Makarios was apparently the son of the five men who ran the company.

"Well, he can't biologically belong to all of them," Mokuba mused, "so he must be adopted. And five men . . . seems like too much of a coincidence to me."

He looked through the entire website but turned up no pictures of any of them, even on the About Us page where he had started. That also seemed strange.

"So now what?" he frowned.

There wasn't much in the way of contact information either, but there was a form to fill out if one wanted to do business. Mokuba tapped the edge of the laptop, pondering, and then started to type. If this lead worked, Seto wouldn't be too upset . . . he hoped.

Just one question nagged at his mind. If this really was Critias's missing younger brother, why hadn't he come forward to try to find a way to reconnect now that the curse over Critias had been broken?

There were a lot of possible reasons, he supposed. Did he even know that Critias had been freed by one of the Legendary Warriors? It seemed like everyone in the world had probably known about Dartz and the Orichalcos by the time that mess was over.

Maybe he had tried to find Critias, but the portal had closed and he hadn't been able to get to him. But then why hadn't he gone to Yugi or Joey or Seto to help him?

Mokuba paused in his typing. What if Makarios and his Big Five weren't good guys? Or maybe the brothers had had some kind of falling-out when they had last seen each other.

No, he didn't want to think that. What kind of falling-out would last for over ten thousand years? There must be some other reason for their silence.

Taking a deep breath, he finished his message and hit Send.

Well, hopefully soon now he would have his answer.

xxxx

Critias definitely noticed the missing members of the group when the others came over to help. "The Big Five aren't here, I see," he commented.

"Can you blame them?" Joey frowned. "After everything they've been through, they deserved a break!"

"They should want to help find the Orichalcos," Critias retorted. "They should want to avenge what happened to them and make certain it can't happen to anyone else!"

"They will certainly join in helping us later on," Atem said. "Just not now."

"Haven't they done enough to prove they're not cowards?" Tristan scowled. "Not that they needed to prove themselves to you."

Mako's eyes flashed and he shook a strong fist in the air. "Mr. Nesbitt believed my father and I were in mortal danger and he did everything he possibly could to save us!"

Akio gave a firm nod of agreement. "That's right." They had spent part of an agonized night dwelling on what had happened before receiving the word that Nesbitt was alright. It was an immense weight off their shoulders, but they both felt they would be forever in debt to Nesbitt and the rest of the Big Five for that sacrifice.

"I accept they're not cowards," Critias said. "But I still think they should be here. When we were released of our curse, we didn't stop to take a break; we threw ourselves full force into bringing down Dartz once and for all!"

"It's not like they're running around havin' fun either," Joey retorted. "They're just resting, trying to get their strength back up."

"Let's not argue about it," Dark Magician Girl interjected. "My sister is going to take us to where she found her stone and we'll branch out from there."

Everyone was agreeable to that.

The area Magician's Valkyria led them all to was beyond the castle grounds and into a meadow nearby. Serenity and Téa especially stared in awe at the beautiful scenery and flowers.

"It's hard to believe there's so much danger here," Serenity said softly. "Why does the Orichalcos have to try to ruin this world?"

"We're going to make sure it doesn't!" Téa insisted.

In the distance a waterfall descended into a bubbling stream that was traveling along a bank near the group. Serenity knelt down, brushing her hand through the clear water. "It's so peaceful it's like a fairytale world," she said.

"Maybe, but don't forget that fairytales have some pretty messed-up imagery," Duke remarked. "They're not all dream world scenery and happy endings."

Serenity stood and resumed walking with the group. "At least they do end happy, though," she said softly.

"Unless you're reading something by Hans Christian Andersen," David said. "He not only came up with some seriously demented stories, some of them didn't even end happy at all. Some of them were bittersweet at best."

"Ah, so more like reality," Yami Bakura grunted.

Duke quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to be an expert on fairytale writers."

David shrugged. "I do have three sisters. The first time they were introduced to the original version of _The Little Mermaid_, my youngest sister cried for hours. And there's others much more twisted than that. I remember something about a girl whose boyfriend died and she had some body parts in her flower box? Something like that."

"Are you serious?!" Téa shrieked.

"That's what I heard anyway," David said. "I never read it myself. I don't even remember the name of it."

"I wonder what made him write such sad stories," Serenity mused.

"Well, at least he wrote some things like _The Ugly Duckling_ that ended happy," Yugi remarked.

"What does any of this have to do with why we're here?" Seto grunted.

"Nothing, of course," David smoothly answered. "We're just trying to distract ourselves from thinking about the Orichalcos and how it might warp any one of us into cruel and heartless beings."

Magician's Valkyria finally stopped near the entrance to a forest. "I found the stone here," she announced, pointing to the foot of a large pine tree. "I looked all over for more, but I didn't see any."

"Orichalcos stones usually fall in groups," Dartz said. "It's strange there wouldn't be any others."

"Unless someone dropped it, maybe?" Valon suggested.

"Hmm. Perhaps they even saw Magician's Valkyria coming and dropped it hoping she would find it," Dartz mused. "We still don't know that she wasn't corrupted on purpose as part of the rebels' scheme."

"And we don't know if the only reason there are rebels is because of the Orichalcos corrupting all of them," Atem said.

"Well," Valon drawled, "I guess all we can do is spread out and look around for more of the things."

"And stay alert for any rebels," Critias growled.

For some time the group roamed the entrance to the forest and then gradually moved inward, searching around trees and bushes for any sign of the Orichalcos stones—or of the rebels. They didn't turn up either.

"Hey," Yugi said after a while, "that looks like a cave over there." He pointed behind a bush and up a small hill, where an opening in stone stood yawning wide above them.

"That looks like a perfect hidin' place for Orichalcos stones!" Joey exclaimed. He ran over and scrambled up the hill to look inside.

"Unless there are any Mother Grizzlies inside," Critias grunted.

Joey stiffened. "G-Grizzlies?!"

Critias came over and shined a flashlight into the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites the light hit glistened in various colors. "I don't see Mother Grizzlies or Orichalcos stones," he frowned. "It's probably safe to explore, but it might be pointless."

"We had better look, just in case it isn't pointless," Timaeus said. He advanced into the cave in determination. As he kept walking without anything going noticeably wrong, the rest of the group fell into step after him.

"This is a pretty big cave," Téa remarked after they had been walking for a while. "And there haven't been any Orichalcos stones."

"Or maybe you're speaking too soon," Seto said. He pointed to a green stone glimmering between two stalagmites.

Critias immediately hurried over for a better look. "This is definitely an Orichalcos stone," he snarled. "We should keep going."

Dartz and Mai shrank away from it, not daring to get too close.

"But uh . . . what are we gonna do with that thing?" Joey frowned. "We don't wanna leave it rollin' around to corrupt somebody. But if we take it with us, we're just asking for trouble!"

Critias promptly drew his sword and sliced the stone into fragments without a word. Then he sheathed the weapon and continued on his way.

Joey gaped after him.

Timaeus gave him a crooked smile. "You get used to him after a while."

"It's hard enough to get used to one Kaiba," Joey said. "I don't think I could get used to another one too!"

Seto grunted. "Typical Wheeler humor."

"I'm serious!" Joey retorted.

"The two of you don't get along?" Hermos frowned.

"That's putting it mildly," Tristan remarked. "They haven't liked each other from the first time they met."

"But that was in the past," Yugi hurried to say. "They're friends now . . . even if they won't admit it very much."

Seto and Joey eyed each other and then looked away.

"If there's any trouble, you'll see them come to each other's aid," Téa said. "But oh . . . I hope there won't be any more trouble. . . ."

"As do we all," Timaeus said grimly.

xxxx

Nesbitt felt like he was coming out of a fog as he slowly woke up. Then it started to process that he had rolled over against Lector and hugged him sometime during the night and someone had covered them with a quilt. He quickly turned red and moved to roll away, but the feel of an arm over him stopped him. Apparently Lector wasn't bothered by him being there. He even wanted it and had returned Nesbitt's gesture.

Nesbitt settled back into the soft pillow. He knew how Lector felt, wanting the reassurance and comfort that Nesbitt was alive. The past evening must have been traumatizing for him as well as for the rest of the Big Five. Maybe even others of the group as well. Nesbitt had experienced several such traumatizing experiences, sometimes involving Lector, sometimes one of the others. Crump was the only one Nesbitt had never seen apparently dead, but Lector had seen that too.

_It's a wonder we're all still sane,_ he thought to himself. _It's a wonder those kids are still sane!_

Lector stirred, opening sleepy eyes to look at Nesbitt. "Nesbitt?" he whispered. "You're alive?"

Nesbitt's heart twisted. "Yeah." On another, different impulse, he hugged Lector close. "You feel this, don't you?"

"Part of me has to wonder if it's just a marvelous dream," Lector said. He hugged back. "I can feel you breathing, but it seems unreal . . . impossible."

"It's not," Nesbitt promised. "I'm real."

Lector relaxed. "I have to believe it," he said. "If I don't . . . I'll break."

Nesbitt debated whether to even mention having inadvertently rolled over in bed. Finally, not seeing his way clear to pretending it hadn't happened, he said, "I started out on the other side of the bed. I must have moved around again." He flushed.

"I must have moved too," Lector said. "I don't remember being this close to the center of the bed when I went to sleep."

Nesbitt hadn't even noticed that. He had been so caught up in being convinced that he had been the only one to move and feeling embarrassed by it. ". . . Oh," he said at last, not sure what else to say. "I guess so."

"You don't mind, do you?" Lector asked.

"No," Nesbitt said. "Do you?"

"No." Lector smiled. "Not at all."

Nesbitt finally sat up. "I wonder who put the quilt on us."

"It could have been any of them. They probably all saw us." Lector sat up too.

"Maybe they've already left to look for Orichalcos stones," Nesbitt said. "It looks like it's morning."

"I doubt they'd leave us here alone after last night," Lector said. "They probably decided not to go with everyone else."

Nesbitt had to admit that sounded likely. He started to push himself off the bed. "Let's get something to eat," he said.

Smiling, Lector got off the opposite side.

They were both surprised when they went downstairs and found Mokuba sitting on the couch, busily typing into his laptop. "Mokuba?" Lector exclaimed.

Mokuba jumped a mile. But, quickly recovering, he looked up and beamed. "Lector! Nesbitt!" He set the laptop aside and leaped up, running over to them. "I'm so glad everything's okay. . . ."

"So are we," Lector smiled.

Nesbitt nodded but looked awkward. It always made him uncomfortable learning how much others had been worried about him. ". . . What are you doing here, Mokuba?" he asked. For once he hoped he didn't sound rude.

"Seto asked Gansley if it was okay if I stayed over here while people look for the Orichalcos stones," Mokuba said. "Gansley said Yeah and went back to bed."

"So everyone else has gone?" Lector surmised.

Mokuba nodded. "I've just been working quietly on my laptop, so I hope I didn't wake anybody up. . . ."

"We didn't hear you," Lector said.

"That's good," Mokuba sighed in relief.

Nesbitt looked down at his Smartwatch. "That's the time?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I guess you guys were tired," Mokuba said. "It's understandable after last night."

Lector nodded. "It certainly is. And right now we'd better get something to eat. I don't even know whether to call it breakfast now."

"It's more like lunch," Nesbitt grunted.

"Do you want something to eat, Mokuba?" Lector asked.

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Sure!"

Chuckling in amusement, Lector led them into the kitchen and looked in the fridge to see what kinds of food they had to work with. Finally deciding on breakfast sandwiches, he started putting them together and then set about melting the cheese.

"Are you guys going to Penguin World today?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm sure Crump wants to," Lector said. "I don't know if all of us will."

Nesbitt shrugged. "I'm alright with it."

"How long do you think it'll be before it's ready to open?" Mokuba wondered.

"Hopefully just a couple of weeks or so," Nesbitt said. "Crump wants to have it open in time for the Christmas season. I need to run some more tests on the mini-sub and the rest of the penguins need to get here."

"That's gonna be so awesome," Mokuba beamed.

A sound at the doorway brought their attention up. The rest of the Big Five were standing there, still looking a little sleepy as they studied the scene in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Gansley greeted.

"Good morning," Nesbitt returned. "Do you want breakfast sandwiches?"

"Sounds good to me," Crump said. Gansley and Johnson concurred.

Lector quickly made some more and soon they were all settling around the table to eat. The meal was peaceful and pleasant; Mokuba felt perfectly at home sharing it with all of them. He loved that they were all friends now. When life-threatening things weren't happening, life really seemed about perfect to Mokuba. Seto was even starting to loosen up and learning how to accept feelings of considering others his friends. It was wonderful.

It was after they had all finished and Gansley's maid was coming to load the dishwasher that a knock came at the door. Gansley raised an eyebrow. "Kaiba's back already?"

"Probably not," Mokuba said, although he wished it would be so.

They all went into the living room and Gansley opened the door.

A man who looked like Mokuba fifteen or twenty years older was standing there. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was wearing a business suit, but the resemblance was undeniable. "Hello," he greeted Gansley. "Is Mokuba Kaiba here? . . . Oh, there you are."

Mokuba stood gaping at him. "Ma-Makarios?" he stammered.

The older double grinned. "Yeah, that's right."

"Would someone explain what's going on here?!" Nesbitt exclaimed.

"I wrote a letter on the form on this website," Mokuba said. "Makarios was the son of these five guys who run this import/export business, and I thought maybe it was the one from Atlantis and . . . well, I just wanted to get in touch with him." He looked back to Makarios. "But I never thought you'd show up in person!"

"Hey, when we got your letter, we had to come," Makarios said. "But we decided it might be too much of a shock if we all came to your door, so my dads are waiting in the rental car."

"Wait a minute," Crump exclaimed. "Are you trying to say you and these Atlantis guys are all still alive?! It's been over ten thousand years!"

Nesbitt frowned. "You can't expect us to believe that!"

Makarios gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Yeah, well . . . Atlanteans are pretty long-lived. We can be killed, but if nothing violent happens we can live on for a real long time. We're not immortal, but we're probably the closest thing to it." He looked around. "And uh, it might be better to talk about this kind of stuff inside. Who knows who's listening."

Nesbitt grunted, still not convinced.

Gansley stepped aside. "Do come in." He was reeling, and he just kept staring as Makarios complied. This case kept growing more and more bizarre.

Lector gave Mokuba a strange look. "What exactly did you write in your letter, Mokuba?"

"Well . . ." Mokuba shifted. "I said Hi and who I was and said that if the name Critias meant more to them than some story by Plato, they might wanna talk to me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't think I should say too much, just in case it was a wild goose chase."

"The name Critias means a whole lot to us." Makarios leaned on the door once Gansley shut it and folded his arms. "What do you know about him?"

"He's free of the curse in the Duel Monsters' dimension," Mokuba said. "But I think he thinks you're dead. Dartz's daughter Chris thinks you died in the Battle of Atlantis."

"Yeah. . . ." Makarios looked away. "For a long time I was upset with the men who took me away. I knew they were protecting me, but I felt like my place was at Critias's side . . . even though Critias himself didn't want me to fight."

"We have ways to travel to other dimensions now, so if you wanna see him again, you can," Mokuba offered.

Makarios sighed and gave a sad smile. "I've wanted to see him so badly. I wanted to set him free from the curse, but the dimensions were sealed, and of course I wasn't one of the chosen warriors, so my hands were tied either way. Then, when he was finally set free, he went back to the Duel Monsters' dimension—I guess since Atlantis is gone and he can't protect it anymore—and the portals closed up again before I could get to him. I kind of hoped maybe you guys had ways of traveling between dimensions, but . . . I don't know, I hadn't come forward because I guess I'm afraid Critias will think I'm a coward for not being at the Battle of Atlantis. . . . I really am a coward when it comes to facing him."

"He'd never think that about you!" Mokuba protested. "You said yourself that he didn't want you there!"

"That was back then, though," Makarios said. "In so many years he might have changed his mind."

"You should try to see him," Lector spoke up. "You owe that to both of you. There's a portal open right now that you could go through."

"Really?" Makarios's eyes flickered with hope.

Mokuba nodded. "You really should! Especially since it looks like the Orichalcos is loose in the Duel Monsters' dimension. There's no telling what might happen. . . ."

"The Orichalcos?!" Makarios stiffened. "Then you're right, we really should go over there! We need to help this time." He wavered. "I just hope Critias won't still be mad at the guys. . . ."

"He was pretty mad yesterday," Crump said.

"But once he knows they preserved your life, surely he'll feel differently," Johnson said. "They didn't fight, but they did something much more valuable."

"Where is the portal?" Makarios asked.

"It's at the Turtle Game Shop," Mokuba said. "Seto doesn't want me going into the Duel Monsters' dimension, but we could take you to the portal." He looked back at the Big Five for confirmation.

"That's right," Gansley nodded.

Makarios brightened. "I'll really see my brother again. . . . Thank you so much, all of you."

"Hey, sure thing," Crump said. "It was really Mokuba's idea, though. None of us knew anything about it until you showed up!"

Gansley nodded and turned to head for the stairs. "Just give us a few minutes to get dressed and we'll take you to the portal."

The Big Five had just got upstairs when Nesbitt decided to speak. "Doesn't it seem more than a little strange that Mokuba would find these people so easily?" he said.

"Honestly, by now I don't know _what's_ strange anymore," Gansley wearily replied.

"I wonder if he was really hoping to be found," Johnson suggested. "After Dartz's defeat, they didn't need to hide anymore. Maybe they weren't trying to."

Lector nodded. "I saw the look in his eyes. I recognized it all too well—that longing to be reunited with a loved one. I can't believe he isn't sincere."

Nesbitt looked away. He had recognized that look too. Instead of persisting in his argument, he crossed to the window. As he pulled back the curtain and looked out, he could see their Atlantean ancestors getting out of the rental car and starting up the walk.

"Hey, what do you see?" Crump asked.

Nesbitt was still gawking. "They look almost exactly like us," he gasped. "They look maybe fifteen to twenty years older than us, but aside from that . . ."

Gansley shook his head. "We'll be down with them soon enough. For now, don't let them catch you spying on them!"

Nesbitt slowly stepped away from the window but was immediately replaced by Crump. "That's just bizarre!" Crump exclaimed.

"They _are_ our ancestors," Johnson said, pushing up his glasses. "You know what they say about family resemblance."

"Yeah, but most people don't see it firsthand!" Crump retorted. ". . . Hey, my ancestor is clean-shaven! That's a freaky sight. I've had a moustache for as long as I could grow one!"

Gansley sighed and looked to Lector, who had been silent. "Apparently it's going to be one of _those_ days," he said.

"Just as long as it's not a day where any of us get hurt," Lector emphatically replied.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

By the time the Big Five dressed and came back downstairs, their Atlantean ancestors were in the house talking with Makarios in low tones. They all looked up at the sounds of their hosts on the stairs.

"Hi, guys," Makarios said. "May I present Aegeus, Karpos, Jonas, Nereus, and Leandros." He indicated, in turn, the Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Nesbitt, and Lector counterparts.

"Hello," Gansley slowly nodded in turn.

Greetings were exchanged all around and Mokuba headed for the door. "Well, we'd better get going to the portal," he said.

Everyone was in agreement and quickly followed him out.

". . . Does the Kaiba brothers' heritage really come through you?" Nesbitt asked Makarios as they started down the driveway.

"Yeah." Makarios looked away. "When I grew up, I got married and we had a son. Of course, my wife . . . not being an Atlantean . . . only lived as long as other humans usually did back then." Sadness flickered in his eyes, but he continued, "My son lived a long time, however, and I realized I'd passed some of my longevity on to him."

"Well . . . that's nice," Crump said slowly. "It must be rough living on without your wife and kid, though. . . ."

Makarios nodded. "And my brother. But these guys . . ." He smiled up at the Atlantean Big Five. "They've meant so much to me."

"I can't imagine being with anyone for so long," Mokuba admitted. "It must be amazing."

"It sure is." Makarios stopped when they reached the limousine and looked pleadingly to his guardians. "Can I tell them? Please . . . I want to tell them."

Aegeus sighed but gave him a gruff smile. "Go ahead."

"Tell us what?" Lector quirked an eyebrow.

Makarios smiled at him and the others. "There's enough Atlantean blood in all of you guys that you'll probably live longer than most people do now."

"That's if nothing fatally violent happens," Aegeus intoned.

"Most, if not all, of what goes wrong for us is because of violence," Gansley grunted.

"But maybe you'll all pull through!" Mokuba said. "That would be incredible!"

"It's the same for you and your brother, Mokuba, and anyone else who can trace their ancestry back to Atlantis," Leandros said.

Mokuba stared at him. "I can't think of anything more amazing than being able to be with Seto all that time," he said softly. "And then we'll all be together in Heaven too. . . ."

Nesbitt folded his arms. "I'm still finding all of this hard to believe," he said.

"It's not all perfect," his counterpart Nereus told him. "It's true that there's no guarantee you'll have extended lifespans. And living on longer would be a burden and not a gift if you couldn't all be together."

"I want that for us," Johnson spoke up. "I don't know if we'd really be able to have it, but I want us to . . . so much. . . ."

"And we hope you will," Aegeus told him.

The two groups climbed into the limousine and the rental car and started off for the Turtle Game Shop.

"Well, whaddya think of all that?!" Crump exclaimed.

"I don't know," Nesbitt grunted. "I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Although part of me wouldn't be surprised if it is true, but we won't all get to share in it through the years."

"Let's not think about that," Johnson pleaded. He sighed. "Although it is hard to believe that we'll keep having miraculous escapes long enough to enjoy that fabled peace Shadi mentioned and stay together all through the years. . . ."

"But there's no reason why you can't hope for it," Mokuba said. "I'm sure gonna keep hoping. Wouldn't it be crazy if everybody in the gang has an Atlantean counterpart?!"

"Since everyone seemed to have had Egyptian ancestors, I suppose it's not that unfathomable," Gansley said.

"I can't think of anything I would like more than for what Makarios and his fathers said to be true," Lector said quietly. "For us to all be able to live on and grow old together would be an incredible dream come true."

"Then let's keep hoping for it. Okay?" Mokuba said softly.

Lector smiled a bit. "Alright. I'm sure all of us will do just that."

Everyone certainly concurred.

xxxx

Mrs. Muto was tensely watching from the Turtle Game Shop counter when the groups arrived and got out of their vehicles. It only took a moment to process that there were two sets of Big Fives walking inside the shop, and that Makarios looked like Mokuba grown-up, and suddenly she was overwhelmed.

"Do I even want to know what this is about?" she exclaimed.

"Probably not," Mokuba said. "Did Mr. Muto go through the portal too?"

"Yes!" Mrs. Muto cried. "What is all of this portal nonsense lately?! And . . . oh." She went pale as she stared at Nesbitt. "Aren't you the man who was dead last night? I know Yugi said something about an enchanted death, but that sounded so bizarre. . . ."

Nesbitt went red. "It is bizarre, but it's better than a real death. Yes, that was me."

Mrs. Muto shook her head. "I just don't understand my son and his adventures anymore. I just don't."

"Where's the portal?" Nereus interrupted with impatience.

"Upstairs in Yugi and Atem's room again," Mrs. Muto sighed.

"I _am_ sorry we have to keep intruding," Lector said with a genuinely apologetic bow. "Hopefully this won't go on for much longer."

"Oh, when it stops, it won't be long and something else will happen," Mrs. Muto said in despair.

No one could say anything to counter that, so they opted to quickly go past the shop and up the stairs to the apartment.

"You know, I was thinkin' about something," Crump said. "Don't you guys think it's kinda weird that Kuriboh and Revival Jam and those real affectionate Duel Monsters haven't been coming out while all this portal-opening and traveling's been going on?"

"I have," Gansley admitted. "I keep half-expecting a furry ball to bowl me over."

"Kuriboh sure ended up nuts about you when you saved Atem," Crump grinned.

Nesbitt frowned. "You think there's some reason why they haven't come out? Maybe they're just not near the portals."

"Perhaps," Gansley said, "but with so many bizarre things happening, it's getting harder and harder to know what's important and what isn't. And when they've been around before, I can't help thinking this _is_ important. I'm sure it's occurred to Yugi and the Pharaoh as well."

"I'm sure you're right," Nereus said. "If certain Duel Monsters have been around often and now aren't, it _is _a matter of concern. Especially with the possible return of the Orichalcos."

They arrived at the bedroom and the portal. As always, it was twisting and spinning in mid-air, looking ominous in its silence.

"No one's guarding it today?" Crump frowned.

"Seto texted me and said that Dark Magician Girl herself was gonna guard it from the other side while everyone spread out to look for the Orichalcos," Mokuba explained. "He didn't know what to think, but Atem was sure it was fine."

Makarios took a deep breath. "Well . . . are we ready to go through?"

Aegeus gave him a look. "Are you?"

"I have to be ready," Makarios said. "I really do want to see Critias again. I just hope he won't be too angry with any of us. . . ."

"When we find him, we should probably stay back so you can greet him first," Leandros said.

"But I'll tell him right away that all of you saved my life," Makarios said.

"Yeah, and without them doing that . . . Seto and I wouldn't even be here," Mokuba said softly. "You guys made sure the family line would happen."

Leandros smiled. "And I am happy we could do that. Makarios didn't understand for a long time, but we were all more than happy to leave the battle when it meant saving his life."

"I owe everything to all of you," Makarios said. "I'm just sorry I wasn't more grateful at the time."

"It's understandable, you missing your brother and all," Karpos said. "We all felt horrible when we heard later about what Dartz did."

"But we couldn't have stopped it," Aegeus said.

"I can't even imagine how awful that'd be, to know there was nothing you could do to break the curse and you'd have to wait for some Legendary Warrior guy to show up and do it," Crump frowned.

Makarios nodded. "It was awful." He looked to the portal. "Well . . . we'd better go, I guess. . . . Thanks again, all of you. Especially you, Mokuba."

"Sure," Mokuba smiled.

Leandros stepped forward. "I'll go first." He stepped inside the portal before anyone could protest. But to all of their surprise, he leaned back in within the next moment, his eyes filled with concern and confusion.

"What's wrong?" Nereus demanded.

"There's no one here!" Leandros exclaimed.

"What?!" Aegeus stiffened.

"Oh no. . . ." Makarios looked sick. "Something's gone wrong!"

Mokuba looked up at the Big Five. "What're we gonna do?!"

"Your brother still wouldn't want you to cross over, I'm sure," Gansley said. "But one of us had better try contacting someone in the group and letting them know about this."

Mokuba nodded. "I'll do it." At least that was something he could do to help. He took out his phone and quickly texted.

_Seto, are you okay?_

Everyone stood around awkwardly waiting for a response. Leandros came back through the portal, definitely uneasy.

"Can you really communicate between dimensions?" Jonas asked.

"Well, we could before," Mokuba said helplessly.

Lector tried texting Yugi. But just as before, there was no reply.

"Something's gone wrong with everybody!" Mokuba cried. "I'm sorry, guys, but now I have to go over there!" And he ran through before anyone could stop him.

"Mokuba!" Lector cried in dismay. He grabbed for the boy, but in vain.

"I'm on it!" Makarios called. He leaped through the portal too.

Gansley growled. "At least some of us will have to go in after Mokuba and find out what's gone wrong," he said, "but with the Dark Magician Girl gone, there's no one to guard the portal. Someone with magic will have to stay on this side in case anything terrible comes through."

"Why are portals left open like this anyway?" Nereus said in frustration. "It's hardly safe!"

"It's in case something like this happens, where more of us have to go over and try to help," Gansley said. "Those over there need the candle-holder with them, so they leave a portal open for contact with this dimension."

Lector looked to Nesbitt. "I don't know where it would be safest for you. . . ."

"I'm not feeling poorly," Nesbitt said. "I say Gansley should stay here, since if something goes wrong he wouldn't be able to run as fast. But someone else should stay with him."

". . . I could stay," Johnson spoke up. "If you're insistent on going, Nesbitt. . . ."

Lector didn't know what to say. He didn't like Nesbitt going, but staying here and keeping watch for enemies coming through the portal was dangerous too. Of course, he didn't like for any of them to have to be in such danger.

"We don't have time to discuss it in depth," Gansley grunted. He sat on Yugi's bed and gestured with his cane. "Go on and go through, before Mokuba and Makarios get too far ahead!"

The Atlantean Big Five were already hurrying through. Crump, Lector, and Nesbitt hesitated.

"We'll come back as soon as we can," Lector said.

Gansley nodded. "I know you will. Hurry now!"

The three friends ran inside the portal.

All still looked peaceful on the other side, except for the glaring problem that Dark Magician Girl was definitely absent. The portal had come out on the castle grounds, and everything seemed quieter than it really should be. Mokuba and Makarios were up ahead, looking around in bewilderment and worry. The Atlantean Big Five were walking over to them, also staying alert for any possible trouble.

"Boy, I don't like this," Crump frowned. "Where is everybody?!"

Mokuba suddenly yelped. "Guys!"

Makarios bent down, examining something behind a bush. "Uh oh. . . ."

"Why does there always havta be an 'uh oh'?" Crump scowled.

Aegeus looked over at the Big Three. "Two of the royal guards are back here, asleep," he announced.

"And I can't wake them up." Makarios straightened.

Nesbitt growled. "More fairytale nonsense?"

"Well . . . since you brought it up, it does seem like something out of _Sleeping Beauty_," Makarios said, hooking his thumbs through his belt loops. "But we'd better look around some more to be sure."

It didn't take long to confirm that everyone on the grounds seemed to be in an enchanted sleep, including Dark Magician Girl. She was sprawled in the grass on her stomach, still clutching her staff.

"Is there a Duel Monster that could cause this?" Aegeus wondered.

"Well . . . Leon has a magic card that can put a Duel Monster to sleep for three turns," Mokuba said slowly, "but I'm not sure there's any card that could spread this much damage everywhere!"

"I would imagine some of the advanced Spellcaster Monsters could do it," Lector said. "Maybe the rebels have some on their side now."

"But . . . if they do . . . then what if they have the power to try to bring out that Leviathan thing now?!" Crump exclaimed.

Makarios looked worriedly to the sky. It seemed normal, but who knew how long that might last. "We'd better find the others, and fast."

Mokuba looked down at his phone. "Seto told me where they were going, just in case someone would have to look for them." He studied the area. "I think they were going that way, out past the back of the castle grounds."

"Then let's go." Makarios took off running, his guardians chasing after him.

Lector gave Mokuba a stern look. "Mokuba, you know your brother wouldn't want you over here. I should really just pick you up and send you back through the portal, whether you want to go or not. I would certainly be well within my rights, given the circumstances."

"I have to know if he's alright, Lector!" Mokuba countered. "And we all know it might not be safe in our dimension either!" His eyes turned pleading. "Please . . . let me stay. . . ."

Lector wearily rubbed his forehead. "As Gansley said, there's really no time to properly discuss it. But if I don't make time to send you back, you'll have to promise me that you will stay right with us, Mokuba. Your brother left us in charge of your safety, and I don't intend to fail either of you." He folded his arms and stood sternly over Mokuba.

At last Mokuba sighed and his shoulders slumped as he nodded. "Okay," he said in resignation. He didn't want to get Lector in trouble. And, he realized, Lector might still be shaken from not having been able to stop Nesbitt and Magician's Valkyria blasting at each other last night. He certainly didn't want to add any more burdens to the poor man. He knew so well how it felt to helplessly watch loved ones be hurt.

Lector smiled. "Good. Now, let's go find everyone else."

Mokuba bit his lip. "I hope they're not all in an enchanted sleep too," he moaned. "But that would fit why I can't hear back from any of them. . . ."

"Or they might be someplace where the signal isn't reaching," Nesbitt pointed out, desperately wanting to not have to think that bizarre magic was responsible for everything.

"That's possible too," Lector acknowledged.

They started walking after the other members of their group, making certain to stay together. Other Duel Monsters who lived or worked near the castle were everywhere, fast asleep with no indication of being able to be awakened any time soon.

"So . . . how do we fix this?" Crump worried. "I mean, if this is like _Sleeping Beauty_, one of the victims is the key and waking them'll wake up everyone else."

"You'd think Dark Magician Girl would be the key and that her sister could wake her up," Mokuba said. "But what if we find everyone else asleep, including her?!"

"Then maybe you can try waking your brother," Lector said.

Nesbitt nodded. "For all we know, maybe true love for any of the victims would wake them up and everyone else."

"I guess so. . . ." Mokuba sighed. "I kind of wish Leon was here. . . . He knows all about fairytales. . . ."

"You could try texting him for advice," Nesbitt said.

"Yeah. . . . I think I will." Mokuba quickly started tapping out a new message as they walked.

xxxx

As it turned out, the von Schroeder brothers were in San Francisco, meeting with corporate executives at Industrial Illusions. When Mokuba's message came in, Leonhard stared at it in shock.

"Leonhard?" Siegfried looked to the boy with a frown. It wasn't like him to suddenly become involved with his phone during an important business meeting. From his expression, it was bad news.

"Um . . ." Leonhard looked up, not at all sure if he should say anything in front of these people they barely knew. "I'm sorry, Siegfried. . . . It's from Mokuba. Things aren't going well."

"Can it wait?" Siegfried asked.

Leonhard shook his head. "I don't think so." He held up his phone so Siegfried could see the message.

_Hi, Leon. I know how crazy this is probably going to sound, but . . ._

_we're in another dimension right now and it looks like everyone's in_

_an enchanted sleep. Seto and Yugi don't answer their phones and I'm_

_afraid they've been affected too. But what do I do if one specific person_

_has to wake up before everyone wakes up?_

Siegfried snorted. "It sounds as though Mokuba has been spending far too much time with his brother's fantastic inventions."

"You can say that after what we went through with Reshef?" Leonhard retorted. "That Duel Monster was real, Siegfried! And I'm sure you remember the Neo-Orichalcos mess last year!"

Siegfried's eyes darkened. He most certainly did, and he didn't appreciate the reminder. It had shattered his heart when Leonhard had been attacked by a Neo-Orichalcos soldier and left for dead. "Alright, magic is real," he said brusquely. "But alternate dimensions? Mass enchanted sleeps?!"

"I believe Mokuba," Leonhard insisted.

"But what are you going to do?" Siegfried asked. "_Are_ there any specific rules for mass enchanted sleeps?"

"I guess it depends on if it's the same kind of spell that was used in _Sleeping Beauty_ or not," Leonhard said. "In that story, she had to be woke up before anyone else could wake up. But that doesn't mean that's the only kind of enchanted sleep." He was typing this out to Mokuba as he was saying it to Siegfried. "If it is, though, I guess they'd have to figure out who's the key and who has the true love necessary to wake them up. And that would be easier said than done, I'm sure. . . ."

The corporate executives were staring at them both by now. "Are we going to continue this discussion or not?" one of them grunted.

Siegfried nodded. "Of course, Gentlemen." Part of him wondered why he and Leonhard hadn't simply been thrown out. But then again, considering that these people's boss was Pegasus, they had probably had to put up with who knew how many oddities through the years.

The meeting proceeded for several minutes longer before Leonhard was squirming in his seat. "I'm sorry, Siegfried," he apologized again. "Now Mokuba isn't answering. Maybe he's just out of range, but maybe he's hurt now too! I really feel like I need to go to Domino City and find the way into this other dimension to help him!"

Siegfried passed a hand over his eyes. "Leonhard, we cannot simply get up and leave. . . ."

"I know this meeting is important," Leonhard said softly, "but Mokuba's safety is important too. You can stay here and finish the meeting, Siegfried, and I'll go to Domino City. I've been on my own a lot, traveling to tournaments."

"This is hardly like traveling to a tournament," Siegfried retorted. "Leonhard, you can't really expect me to let you go wandering off into who knows what! Just supposing that everything Mokuba says is true, it's obviously dangerous there!"

"But who knows fairytales better than me?" Leonhard replied. "That was why Mokuba contacted me! Please, Siegfried. . . . I have to help him. . . ."

Siegfried clenched his teeth. He didn't like this at all, and from the way the executives were staring, they clearly thought both brothers were insane.

"Wait a little bit longer," he said at last. "Maybe Mokuba simply hasn't been able to answer you yet."

"He needed to know right then," Leonhard objected. "He'd answer if he could." But he obediently sat back down, tense and stiff as a board.

Siegfried followed the meeting through to its conclusion almost an hour later. "Have you heard anything from Mokuba yet, Leonhard?" he asked.

"No!" Leonhard said in agonized frustration. "Who knows what's happened by now! I could have been in Domino by now if you would have let me leave!"

Siegfried flinched. Leonhard very rarely spoke to him like that. And as much as he didn't want to become involved in this mess, he wanted Leonhard's peace of mind much more.

"We'll go there now," he said in resignation.

Leonhard brightened. "Thanks. . . . I just hope it's not too late. . . ."

One of the executives paused and looked back at them instead of walking out the door. "When you go, keep a look-out for Mr. Pegasus and Croquet, won't you? They disappeared while in Domino City several months ago and we still haven't heard from them!"

"We'll look for them," Siegfried agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes: Thanks to Azalea542 and Mega M for plot help and suggestions!**

**Chapter Ten**

Nesbitt was tense as they all walked through the meadow and into the woods. There had been no sign of the others, and no sign of foul play, either, but he wasn't willing to let down his guard. Maybe in the past he would have been impulsive enough to think nothing was wrong when it looked normal, but after all the bizarre happenings he was just completely on edge. Appearances could not be trusted.

He looked around at his dear friends. How he wished that what Makarios had told them really would be true, and that he could fully believe in it! He hadn't been able to stand it when thinking he had lost one of them. Losing all of them was a nightmare beyond what he could bear to think about. But . . . to think that they could really all be together for many years . . . it just sounded too good to be true. They were always in so much danger, it seemed very likely that one or more of them could suffer a violent death somewhere along the way. But . . . if they could stay alive . . . how amazing that would be!

He sighed to himself.

"Nesbitt?" Lector looked to him in concern. "Are you alright?"

". . . I just wonder if there's any possible chance that what Makarios said could be true for us," Nesbitt said. "I just don't feel like I can fully embrace it. If I believed with all my heart that it would happen and then it didn't, that would be worse than not believing it in the first place."

"It does sound incredible," Lector said. "Maybe too much so. But oh, how I want to believe. . . ."

"So do I," Nesbitt said. "But . . . I'm afraid. . . ."

"I know." Lector laid a hand on Nesbitt's shoulder. He could never forget how Nesbitt could not believe Lector was really alive at first in New Orleans because he was so afraid it wasn't really true. Nesbitt was deeply sensitive in a way Lector had never realized before the early part of the year. In the ensuing months, they had gradually grown closer in spite of, or perhaps in some way because of, their continuing problems getting along in the face of the heart-rending disasters they had weathered.

"The others . . . they know I want it but am just afraid we won't get it, don't they?" Nesbitt wondered.

"Of course," Lector said. "All of us want it." He looked around at the woods, which were growing more dense the deeper they went. "And we're going to get lost in here if we're not careful. . . ."

"Guys . . ." Crump backed up against them. "I'm sure the trees weren't this thick in here before. . . ."

"Well, it's not like they moved," Nesbitt retorted.

A tree quietly used its exposed roots to pull itself forward several inches.

"You were saying?!" Mokuba shrieked.

"I guess there's no hope they're peaceful Ents?!" Terror filled Crump's eyes.

"I don't think you should count on it," Nesbitt said.

"What the heck are we gonna do?!" Crump yelped. "We don't even have Duel Monsters!"

"You know, so far they haven't attacked," Lector mused. "Let's just keep walking. Maybe they won't do anything other than keep watch on us."

"That's creepy enough," Mokuba shuddered. Still, he bravely looked around at the trees as they closed in. "H-Hey! Do you know where my brother is?!"

The trees waved their branches but otherwise made no move to help.

"Let's not spend time arguing with kindling," Nesbitt grunted. "Do we even know where we're going at all?"

"Well . . . Seto said they were going into a cave," Mokuba said slowly. "That was the last thing he sent. . . ." He looked around. "And I don't see any caves. . . ."

Up ahead, Makarios yelped and crashed. ". . . I think I just found it," he mumbled. "It was hidden by this bush. . . ."

Everyone else ran over.

"Are you alright?" Jonas exclaimed.

Makarios reached for his hand and took it, getting to his feet. "Yeah," he said. "But if that bush was trying to keep us from finding the cave, it must not be friendly. . . ."

"Out of context, that sentence sounds absolutely ridiculous," Aegeus grunted.

"It sounds ridiculous in context too," Nesbitt retorted.

"Atlanteans used to be in harmony with plant life," Karpos said. "But that was a long time ago, before the Orichalcos showed up. The plants stopped listening . . . or maybe the Atlanteans did."

"Or maybe both," Mokuba said. "Maybe you could try to get it to listen to you again?"

"I've tried a lot of times," Karpos said. Still, he looked to the stubborn bush. "We need to get in that cave," he said. "A lot of lives might depend on it. Can you please move?"

The bush waved at him and stayed there.

"See what I mean?" Karpos said in frustration.

"We've all gotta go in that cave!" Mokuba exclaimed. "If Seto and everyone went in there, they might be in big trouble!"

"Or maybe the cellphone signal really isn't going through," Nesbitt said. "It probably wouldn't in a cave."

"That's true," Lector agreed, "but can we afford to take the chance?"

"No!" Mokuba hurried over to the entrance. "We can probably climb over the bush to get in. . . ." Then, remembering his promise, he looked back. "You're all coming, right?"

"Of course." Lector walked over to him.

Still reluctant, Nesbitt and Crump followed.

It wasn't easy climbing over the bush. By the time they made it, they were all scratched in some fashion. Crump glowered back at it. "Thanks for nothing," he snapped.

The bush responded by stepping out of the way and leaving the entrance completely exposed.

"Oh, _now_ you move!" Now Crump was more aggravated than ever.

"Nesbitt was right," Lector said. "We don't have time for this. Let's just get going."

Everyone agreed and followed him.

xxxx

Mai was lost in thought as she and the others moved ever deeper into the mystical cave. Seeing an Orichalcos stone had badly shaken her, and it was also impossible to ignore that this mystery was the first time she had seen Dartz since the whole mess. She had been steadfastly trying to ignore that problem, knowing that Dartz had been a victim too, but seeing both him and Orichalcos stones were dredging up unhappy memories from the past.

Dartz looked over, catching her eye. He had definitely been aware of her presence all along, although he hadn't known what to say to her and there had never seemed to be a good time to even try.

Mai drew a shaking breath. This was no time to be standoffish, even though she really didn't want to talk to him. "It's hard seeing those Orichalcos stones, huh?" she said at last.

Dartz sighed. "It certainly isn't pleasant. But I would imagine it's a great deal harder for you to see me, Ms. Valentine."

"That's probably mutual, isn't it?" Mai returned.

". . . I'm afraid so," Dartz admitted. "You and the others . . . you're constant reminders of the atrocities I committed while under the Orichalcos's spell. But after all I did . . . I surely deserve to be reminded of it."

"I don't think you could ever forget," Mai said quietly.

"It goes without saying how absolutely sorry I am," Dartz said. "But it feels so hollow to say it. It certainly doesn't fix anything."

"No . . . but I guess it kind of helps to know it," Mai said. "I didn't see how saying I was sorry would fix anything either. But . . . saying it, and more to the point, showing I meant it, did make a difference with the people I'd hurt. It helped them feel they could trust me, if nothing else."

"I suppose," Dartz said.

"Hey!" Joey called from up ahead. "Now it splits off multiple ways! How are we gonna know which way to go?!"

Indeed, they had reached a point where three paths went off in three separate directions. None of them showed sunlight, so it was impossible to determine which path would lead outside.

"We should all split up and try each path," Critias said. "Each Knight can lead some of you."

"I don't like the idea of separating when we don't know what lies ahead," Atem said, "but it's true that it may be our best chance to see every part of this cave."

Determining who would go with each Knight was also complicated. Yugi, Atem, Solomon, Tristan, the Hawkins, and Magician's Valkyria finally decided to go with Timaeus, while Joey, Mai, Serenity, Duke, David, and the bikers opted for Hermos. Seto shrugged and went with Critias, as did the Ishtars. The Bakuras and the Tsunamis decided to join them.

Dartz and Téa were left trying to determine which group to go with. Dartz found it awkward to be with any of them, and Téa hated to pick just some of her friends to stay with.

"Either way, the groups will be slightly uneven when all is said and done, so it doesn't really matter," Yami Bakura grunted.

At last Dartz chose Timaeus's group. Téa debated one final time and selected Critias's group.

"Alright, now let's hope we'll all meet up again before too long," Yugi said. "If any of us go down a path that never seems to end, we may have to turn around and come back and try a different one."

"Works for me," Joey shrugged.

"And there's no way to communicate with each other down here," Seto scowled, holding up his phone. "No Signal. So we'll just have to stay alert for ways to see each other. For all we know, the paths may intersect down the road."

"Be careful, everyone," Téa implored.

For a while all the paths seemed to look the same—colorful and glistening stalactites and stalagmites and the occasional Orichalcos stone, which all the Knights made short work of whenever they were discovered. And the deeper everyone went, the more distinctive a strange dripping sound became.

"What the heck is that?!" Joey exclaimed.

"It's either condensation or a chamber filled with water," Hermos said. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"Maybe not, but it makes me think of a dripping faucet, and nobody likes a dripping faucet!" Joey ranted.

Mai looked amused. "There's a lot of worse things than that."

"Of course there is, but that's never a fun sound when you're already on edge!" Joey exclaimed, messing up his hair.

"I hope everyone else is okay," Serenity said softly.

It was Critias's path that ended up diverging first. As he led his group farther into the strange cave, he suddenly stepped on a platform that sank down under his foot. "Oh no!" he snarled.

A click above them drew their attention upward. The stalactites had shifted their position. Without warning, they descended from the ceiling.

"Get out of the way!" Critias yelled, grabbing those nearest to him and shoving them against the wall.

Seto leaped to the opposite side, bringing Téa with him and shielding her with his body in case any of the projectiles came their way. Yami Bakura harshly pulled Bakura back from the scene.

"Oh my!" Bakura yelped in horror. The stalactites were sharply crashing into the floor, right where all of them had been standing. In a moment it was over, but the sounds and the close call still echoed loudly through their minds.

"Is everyone alright?" Critias asked. Something flickered in his eyes, the still-fresh memory of when Dartz had cursed and stabbed Timaeus while he and Hermos had helplessly stood by. But then he turned and the look was gone; it wasn't something he wanted to share.

"We're fine," Marik said, only after making sure that was true of Ishizu and Rishid.

Everyone else echoed in the affirmative.

Seto turned to look at the fallen stalactites. "This was obviously a booby-trap," he growled. "There's probably more of them ahead."

"I wonder if our path is the only one that has them," Téa said, still shaken from the experience.

"The question is, what are they trying to hide from us?" Critias said. "The source of the Orichalcos stones?"

"That certainly seems likely," Ishizu acknowledged. "But that may be what they want us to think. What if in actuality it's something else?"

"It does seem strange that individual Orichalcos stones were scattered all over the cave," Marik frowned. "Maybe it's all a trap meant to draw us in and destroy us."

"As a former tomb-robber, I would say either option is possible at this point," Yami Bakura grunted. "I have certainly been in many tombs filled with booby-traps to deter thieves from the treasures."

"This isn't a tomb," Téa shuddered. "Or at least, it better not be!"

A low rumble came from somewhere up ahead.

". . . What was that?!" Téa quavered in horror.

"The Mother Grizzly Critias mentioned before?" Marik suggested.

"That wasn't a Mother Grizzly," Critias replied. "It's worse."

"What's worse?!" Téa exclaimed.

The rumble came again, louder this time. Now a large shape was looming towards them out of the shadows, its girth practically filling the passageway from side to side.

Seto snarled. Again he placed himself in front of Téa. "I know what it is now," he said.

"So do I," Akio said. "It's not something to toy with."

Critias gave a grim nod. "It's a Cave-Dwelling Dragon." He drew his sword. "All of you go back. There's no way any of you can fight it."

"How can you fight it either?!" Téa shrieked.

"At least I have a chance," Critias replied.

"I may be of some use as well," Yami Bakura pointed out. "I have a magical item."

"Yami!" Bakura exclaimed.

The Cave-Dwelling Dragon roared and slashed with a large claw. Critias only barely managed to block in time. "If you think you can do anything with it," he barked. "But the rest of you should leave. Go find the others and make sure they're not in danger as well!"

Seto clenched his teeth. ". . . I have magic too," he admitted. "But it only works if the world is in danger." _Unfortunately, that's at least once a month, if not more,_ he said to himself.

"Well, try and see!" Critias snapped.

Seto raised the hand with the ring and concentrated. A blast shot out, hitting the beast in the shoulder. It roared but wasn't deterred. It continued to advance.

Téa stared in horror. "Kaiba!"

"I'll be fine," Seto said brusquely. "Critias is right; the rest of you will only be in the way."

Téa clenched a fist. "Yeah . . . but I can't stand to just leave you here to deal with that thing!"

"It's better than staying and causing more trouble for them by getting used as bait," Marik retorted. "Come on!"

Reluctantly, most of the group started to run back down the path. Bakura turned, his eyes filled with worry as Yami Bakura blasted past Critias at the dragon. "Yami . . ."

"Don't worry," Yami Bakura growled. "We'll catch up in a few minutes."

"You'd better!" Téa said fiercely. "You'd all better!" She was still torn between trying to find a way to help or just leaving before anything else could go wrong. Still, the logical part of her mind told her that Seto and Marik were right and she and the rest needed to leave. The last thing she wanted was to harm instead of help. Her insides twisting, and her determination not to shed tears failing, she fled the scene as her heart pounded wildly.

"Yami will be alright," Bakura was saying next to her as they ran. "He . . . he has to be alright. . . ." His voice broke. "He's used magic for centuries. The dragon won't get the best of him . . . and Critias has probably fought dragons in the past. Because of Dartz, he even _was_ one, so he probably knows their weaknesses more than almost anyone. But . . ." He looked to Téa, his eyes filling with understanding and worry. "Kaiba . . ."

"No!" Téa cut in. "He's going to be alright too! I know he doesn't have as much experience as Critias or Yami Bakura, but he's been obsessed with dragons most of his life! He'll know how to fight this one! And . . . he has to be okay . . . for Mokuba . . . and all of us. . . ." By now her voice had mostly dropped. "He has to. . . ."

"I know," Bakura said softly as they continued to run.

xxxx

When the von Schroeders landed in Domino City, Leonhard still hadn't heard back from Mokuba and he was long past the point of panic. He soon had Siegfried heading for the Turtle Game Shop. As soon as they arrived in their rented limousine, Leonhard leaped out and ran inside.

"Hello?" he called. "Mokuba? Yugi?"

It was amazing to really be standing in Yugi's treasured home. But under the circumstances he couldn't even enjoy it.

After a moment Mrs. Muto appeared at the bottom of the stairs at the back of the shop. "Are you here for the portal too?" she said in near-resignation.

"Yes!" Leonhard said without hesitation. "Please. . . ."

"Go upstairs and turn left," Mrs. Muto sighed.

"Thank you," Siegfried nodded and followed Leonhard.

Gansley and Johnson were still in Yugi's room when the brothers rushed in. Gansley and Siegfried especially stared at each other; they hadn't really interacted since Siegfried had hurt Gansley while mind-controlled by Reshef.

"I hardly expected to see you here," Gansley said at last.

"And I hardly expected to be here," Siegfried returned, brushing a strand of hair over his shoulder. ". . . Are you well?"

"Yes," Gansley nodded.

"I'm glad," Siegfried said. "I . . . never meant for you to be hurt. . . ."

"I realize that," Gansley said. "You weren't responsible for what happened."

Leonhard held up his phone. "Mokuba was talking to me and then suddenly he wasn't replying anymore! I'm afraid something terrible happened!"

"Oh no," Johnson whispered.

Gansley frowned as he studied the conversation thread. "Yes, that's certainly possible," he admitted.

"I have to go over there and try to help if I can!" Leonhard exclaimed.

"That hardly seems wise," Johnson frowned. "We have two children missing over there already."

"Two?" Leonhard blinked.

"Rebecca Hawkins is over there as well," Gansley explained.

"Oh." Leonhard frowned in concern. "But . . . I know all about fairytales. That's why Mokuba contacted me! I really might be able to help!"

Gansley sighed and rubbed his forehead. "If your brother feels you can go, then we won't interfere," he said wearily.

"I don't really want him to go, but he is quite insistently worried," Siegfried said. "And . . . if the problem over there is truly from a fairytale, then I'm certain he can solve it."

Leonhard managed a weak, worried smile. "I'll sure try. I just feel like I have to try!"

Footsteps on the stairs caused them all to turn. Now it was Chris and Skye in the doorway.

". . . Did Mrs. Muto see you bring a wolf in here?" Johnson asked.

"No, but Skye is very gentle, unless she's going after an enemy," Chris said. "And she's not what she seems. She looks like an Earth wolf now, but she's really a Silver Fang."

Skye made a sound of agreement.

"Let me guess, you're worried about your father," Johnson said, folding his arms.

"That's right," Chris said. "I haven't been able to get him or Yugi to answer their phones in a long time. I even tried contacting the bikers."

"Well, we were just going over there," Leonhard said. "Do you want to come with us? Maybe since Skye is really a Duel Monster, she'll be able to find clues that we can't."

Chris nodded. "That's what I'm hoping."

"Okay, then let's go," Leonhard said. "By the way, I'm Leon."

"I'm Chris," said Chris.

Johnson stared as the children and Siegfried disappeared through the portal with Skye. "Should we really let them go?" he wondered.

"Who knows," Gansley sighed. "But I have the feeling they would have found a way to go over anyway even if we had told them No."

"You're probably right," Johnson acknowledged. He shifted. "And we're stuck here, just waiting to see what comes through the portal. What if we can't stop it anyway?"

"Then we're probably all in big trouble," Gansley grunted.

"And what about them?" Johnson looked to the portal. "If something's wrong with Mokuba, then Crump and Lector and Nesbitt must be in danger too. . . ."

"I know." Gansley gripped his cane. "And there's nothing we can do." Bitterness and helplessness slipped into his voice. "Absolutely nothing."

"We could pray, I suppose," Johnson said. It sounded utterly bizarre to him to suggest such a thing; in years past he would have laughed at the very idea. But . . . after all they had been through . . . it didn't seem so laughable now.

"I am," Gansley replied, as more of his utter helplessness came into his voice. "I can assure you, I am."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Mokuba and his group were stunned as they went deeper into the cave and found the three paths branching off. But before they could decide what to do about it, several of their friends came running down one of the paths and nearly bowled them over.

"Téa?!" Mokuba yelped in shock.

"What's going on?" Lector demanded.

"Where's the others?!" Nesbitt added.

A loud roar echoed up and down the cavern walls.

"That's what's going on!" Téa cried. "There's some giant dragon in here and Critias and Yami Bakura and Kaiba stayed back to fight it!"

Mokuba paled. "Seto!" He tried to run into the passageway, but Lector grabbed him around the waist and hauled him back.

"Mokuba, you are absolutely not going in there!"

"No!" Mokuba struggled against him. "I have to go to Seto! I can't just leave him in there to fight that thing without me!"

"Mokuba, anyone without magic would only get in the way," Marik said gently as he approached. "And it's not a very big space. Kaiba and the others are doing all that they can, but I'm afraid anyone else being in there would crowd them too much."

Nesbitt frowned, listening to the continuing roaring amid the sounds of magical blasts. "And if they can't contain the thing, it'll be coming out here," he realized. "We should stay and be ready to blast it if that happens."

"Oh yeah, I guess we should," Crump said.

Lector sighed and nodded. He was growing ever tired of the rings and the burden of using them, but if this was a case where they could actually help, he certainly wanted to try. He hadn't been able to help Nesbitt in the fight last night, and had things not turned out as they had, he would always be haunted by that.

"All of you should get behind us," he said. "We'll stand guard." He set Mokuba down near Marik.

It was then that Téa noticed Makarios and his fathers. "Oh my gosh!? Who are you guys?!"

"Hi," Makarios said with a small wave. "We're ancestors from Atlantis. Mokuba got in touch with us."

"Seriously?!" Téa exclaimed. "You're still alive?!"

While the Atlanteans explained again about their lifespans and backstories, the Big Three stood tensely waiting around the entrance to the path. Now it sounded like people were running. The ground shook as the giant dragon gave chase. In a moment Yami Bakura ran out, followed closely by Seto and Critias.

"Yami!" Bakura said in relief.

Téa was equally relieved over Seto's safety. He didn't seem to be hurt, as Mokuba was definitely scrutinizing him to see. But before the boy could speak, the dragon roared.

"There's nothing we can do," Critias growled. "It's too powerful!"

"We could all blast it together," Crump suggested.

Seto started. "What are you three doing here?!"

"Uh . . . it's a long story," Crump said.

"And we don't have time for it now!" Nesbitt added. "Here it comes!"

The Cave-Dwelling Dragon started to emerge from the path. Without an official cue, all those with magic pooled their forces for one giant blast. The beast fell back and crashed to the floor in a daze.

"Let's find the others and get out, now!" Critias said.

No one needed any prompting to turn and run down the path farthest from the creature.

"So why isn't that thing in an enchanted sleep?!" Téa exclaimed.

"Who knows," Nesbitt growled.

Mokuba weaved among the running throng until he got to his brother. "Seto!"

Seto jumped a mile. "Mokuba?!" He looked to Lector with furious eyes.

"Don't be mad at Lector, Seto," Mokuba pleaded. "When Leandros found Dark Magician Girl wasn't at her post, we knew something was wrong and I just ran over here before anybody could stop me!"

"What?!" Seto stared. "Why wasn't she at her post?!"

"Everybody back at the castle is in an enchanted sleep, Mr. Kaiba," Lector said.

"And we were worried that all of you were too!" Mokuba explained.

"We're all wide awake," Seto said. "But wait a minute. Who's Leandros?!"

Leandros came along Seto from his other side. "It's a long story."

Seto stared at him in utter disbelief. "You?! You look like Lector!"

"He's from Atlantis, Seto!" Mokuba said. "I found the Big Five's ancestors and our ancestor!"

"They couldn't all be alive," Seto objected.

"We are anyway," Makarios said from behind him. He touched Seto's shoulder. "See? Solid."

"Impossible," Seto breathed. But it was obvious it wasn't, and he knew it.

Critias stopped running and whirled, absolutely shaken. "Makarios?!" The color drained from his face. "It . . . can't be. . . . You're dead. . . . You died so long ago, back in Atlantis. . . ."

Makarios gave him a sad smile. "No, big brother. . . . Our friends saved my life. They never stopped being loyal to you . . . or me. . . . But they showed that loyalty not by fighting in the Battle of Atlantis, but in taking me away . . . even though they knew they would always be seen as cowards forevermore."

Critias watched as the Atlantean Big Five gathered around Makarios, all of their eyes sincere and filled with love for the brothers.

"Yes, that's right, Sir," Aegeus said quietly.

"We couldn't do anything when Dartz cursed you and the others," Leandros said. "All we could do was try to hide from him and wait for the Legendary Warriors to come and break the spell."

"It was awful." Makarios's voice cracked. "I'm so sorry, Critias. . . . Sorry I couldn't do anything. . . ."

"Makarios . . . !" Critias ran forward, pulling the boy into his arms and clutching him close. "You lived. That's more than I could have ever hoped for and dreamed of!"

"Brother . . ." Makarios threw his arms around Critias and shut his eyes tightly. Tears still managed to leak through, but he didn't care. "I've missed you so much. . . ."

Mokuba beamed. "This was exactly the kind of scene I was hoping for." He reached and gripped Seto's hand. "It feels so good to see them back together. . . ."

Seto squeezed his brother's hand in turn. He could definitely imagine what both Critias and Makarios were feeling right now. He had to admit that he liked being part of this moment, seeing a beloved family reunited . . . even though he could still barely grasp that Makarios and the Atlantean Big Five were actually alive.

"And you . . . all of you. . . ." Critias looked up at the Atlantean Big Five. "I have despised all of you so much, believing you all abandoned your stations . . . and me. . . . But you have given me a far greater gift than anything I could have hoped for."

"We knew you wouldn't want your brother caught in the fray," Nereus said.

"And . . ." Jonas looked down. "We love both of you, so much. It was so hard for us to leave you, Sir. Saving Makarios was the only thing that could have made us leave your side in that battle."

"By now, he is our son," Aegeus said. "Although we don't presume to see you, our former commander, in that same light. . . ."

"You were all always dear to me," Critias said. "I would be proud to consider us a family."

Seto went a bit red. He knew Mokuba would be overjoyed at the thought, but he didn't think he could ever think of their Big Five in a paternal light. He had been fending for himself and for Mokuba for far too long and he had been forced to grow up long before his time. He could never release the locks on his heart enough to acknowledge Lector or any of them as father figures, he was sure.

"We . . . have made a life back in the other dimension," Aegeus said. "That is actually where you and the other Knights belong. Will you come back and live there again?"

Critias nodded. "I thought there wasn't anything more for me back there. But now, I will live there happily. I know Timaeus and Hermos will feel the same."

"I'm so glad you've had their friendship all through these years," Makarios said softly.

Magician's Valkyria smiled. "You will be missed here, but I know you're right that you belong there, with your brother and friends from Atlantis."

"But first we must solve the problem that is plaguing this world," Critias said.

"And we'll help," Makarios promised.

Critias might have said more, but suddenly Yugi's group nearly plowed into them coming at them from the other direction. "Guys!" Yugi exclaimed. "What's going on?! The whole cave shook!"

"We thought we needed to turn around in case it was an earthquake," Atem said.

"More like a dragon quake," Crump said. "There's a honking big dragon back there!"

"You didn't find another way out of this cave?" Seto said to Atem in frustration.

"Sadly, no," Atem said. "There may not be another way out."

"And if a dragon is after you, it may not be safe to go back," Timaeus said. "We may need to keep searching for any other possible way out."

"Right now it's dazed, but it could wake up again at any time," Critias said. He kept an arm around Makarios. "And Timaeus, look!"

Timaeus stared. "Makarios . . . ?!"

"My men truly saved his life," Critias said. "They were never cowards."

Makarios smiled. "Hi, Timaeus. It's really good to see you."

"Makarios . . . this is incredible," Timaeus exclaimed. "I would like to have a proper reunion with you, but I know we must hurry and try to find the others. Just know . . . I am so happy to see you . . . and them. . . ." He looked to the Atlantean Big Five.

"And we are happy to see you," Aegeus said.

Dartz was stunned too, but he didn't know whether to come forward, at least at this point. Timaeus was right that they needed to hurry, and he wanted some time to process this development. It was amazing to think that anyone had survived that horrendous battle. He had looked for the Atlantean Big Five at times, but had never found them. Makarios he had assumed had been killed. And now, here they all were.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Mokuba said. "Don't you have more strength than the Cave-Dwelling Dragon?" He looked at Critias.

"This isn't Duel Monsters," Critias retorted. "In real-life, things don't always go the way they do in the game. Pegasus assigned attack and defense points to all the card characters, but he didn't know how strong or weak they were in reality."

"You know, I _have_ noticed that some of the weak cards sound like they could be pretty strong in real-life," Yugi said. "They sure were in the Capsule Monsters world." He sighed. "And I think we'll have to go back. What if the dragon gets up and goes down the path Joey's group took? We should get there first!"

"Are you sure?" Critias asked.

Yugi firmly nodded without hesitation. "I'm sure. We can't just leave them to maybe get clobbered by a dragon!"

"Of course not," Atem said. "Let's go."

To everyone's relief, the dragon hadn't moved when they arrived back at the head of the paths. Quickly they departed down the remaining passageway in search of the third group.

"Joey's group isn't coming back like ours did!" Tristan exclaimed.

"Perhaps they found the way out!" Mako suggested.

"I hope they didn't find trouble instead!" Téa moaned.

They ran until they came to a dead end. Then they could only stop and stare.

"What?! This can't be the end!" Téa cried. She ran to the wall and felt across it. "They have to be here!"

"They wouldn't have turned around and gone back," Yugi agreed. "We would have met each other somewhere along the way!"

"Unless . . ." Dartz trailed off with a frown.

"What?" Rebecca asked in annoyance.

". . . Cave-Dwelling Dragons have enormous appetites," Dartz admitted.

"You think it _ate_ them?!" Tristan yelped.

"That's disgusting!" Rebecca shrieked. "Some of Yugi's best friends are in that group!"

Téa looked to the others in horror. "You don't really think . . ."

"No!" Yugi cried. "That can't be it!"

"It really can't be, unless the two tunnels are connected and the dragon was in the other one first," Critias said. "It came from the back of our tunnel when it attacked. And there clearly isn't any connection between the tunnels, unless there's some kind of a secret passageway that closed back up. . . ."

"A passageway! Of course!" Atem felt across the wall. "Let's keep looking, everyone! They must have fallen through a wall or trapdoor!"

Everyone swiftly took up the task, knocking and kicking and pushing and doing everything else possible to open the stubborn passageway, wherever it was.

"This is impossible!" Téa finally cried. "There's really nothing here!" She slumped in despair against the wall.

"Now if Joey was here, he'd kick it in frustration and it'd open," Tristan sighed.

"Then maybe you should try it," Seto grunted, only half-sarcastic.

Tristan decided to follow through, and he delivered a vicious kick to the nearest portion of the wall. When nothing happened, his shoulders slumped and he sighed again. "It needs the Wheeler touch," he said.

They had traveled halfway back on the path, still searching, when a roar shook the floor again.

"The dragon is awake!" Magician's Valkyria exclaimed in horror. "If we can't find the secret passage soon, we'll have to fight it! . . . Or I will. . . ." She drew a shaking breath.

"Are you crazy?!" Tristan cried. "You can't go at that thing all by yourself! It's massive!"

Magician's Valkyria looked away. "After what I did, I need to do something to make up for it. . . ." She turned back to face Nesbitt. "I am so sorry. . . ."

"You weren't yourself," Nesbitt frowned. ". . . I understand that kind of situation more than you would ever think."

Lector laid a hand on his shoulder. It had been almost a year, but Nesbitt was still haunted by having been mind-controlled by Yami Marik and hurting him. Lector doubted his friend would ever fully get over something like that. He was sure he wouldn't, had their positions been reversed.

"And you need to stay okay because everybody's in an enchanted sleep back at the castle!" Mokuba said. "Dark Magician Girl is probably the key, and you need to wake her up with true love to wake everybody else up too!"

"What?!" Magician's Valkyria whipped around to stare in shock at Mokuba. "This is horrible! It would take an extremely powerful spell to put that many Duel Monsters into an enchanted sleep!"

"We were afraid of that," Aegeus said.

Téa kicked out at another section of wall. To everyone's relief, it started to creak open. "I found it, guys!" she exclaimed. "Let's just hope the others are really in there. . . ."

"They've gotta be!" Crump said. "There's nowhere else to go!"

The group rushed through, with Timaeus bringing up the rear. He pulled the wall shut after them, praying the dragon didn't know about the passage or wouldn't open it by accident. At least, though, there was no way it would fit through the opening.

Téa cringed as she stepped down in liquid. "Ugh! What is this place?!"

Flashlights beamed around the area. "It's some kind of pool," Yugi said in surprise. "The water looks pretty clear. . . ."

That was certainly something Téa was glad of—and that she was wearing boots. ". . . Actually, this looks like a peaceful place," she said, surprised as well.

"There's a mossy pathway that slopes down over here," Bakura said, moving to the opposite wall of the new space.

Everyone swiftly followed him over and started down the path. The deeper they went, the greener and more beautiful the pathway became.

"There's grass and flowers growing down here?!" Téa said in disbelief after a while.

"Well, that's different," Crump quipped. "I guess anything goes in a fairytale world."

"Incredible," Professor Hawkins breathed. He quickly snapped more pictures.

"Are you really going to announce about having been in another dimension?" Tristan asked. "No one's going to believe you."

"I'm used to that ridicule," Professor Hawkins said. "No one believed about the Egyptians playing Duel Monsters for many years, but now that Ms. Ishtar has come forward to corroborate my findings, it's becoming accepted history."

"This is true," Ishizu admitted. "So perhaps it won't be as difficult for people to accept the existence of other dimensions."

"I'm sure it will be for some," Seto retorted.

Finally the pathway ended far below ground, spreading out into some sort of underground meadow filled with different types of flowers and a small pond. The ceiling above them was brightly glistening with stones like diamonds or crystals, reflected on the surface of the water.

"This place makes absolutely no sense," Nesbitt grunted. "I may be more into machines, but I know there's no scientific way something like this can exist!"

"Science works differently here," Magician's Valkyria said. "We call it magic."

Nesbitt shook his head. "That makes even less sense."

"If Serenity saw this place, she'd want to stop and enjoy it," Téa said. "I don't see that anyone's here at all. And unless there's another secret passage, everything stops right here!" Her hands went to her hips. "What are we going to do?!"

Akio approached the water and stared into it. ". . . They went through the pool," he decided.

"What?!" Seto snorted in disbelief.

"It's not a real body of water," Akio said. "It's a portal. We have several magical portal pools here. I've discovered quite a few of them in my time here."

"Fascinating," Mako exclaimed.

Makarios bent down and poked it. The water rippled much more violently than with a regular pool. "Neat!"

Téa came over and stared into the water. "I hope they're really through there," she worried.

"Hey, if there's nowhere else to go, they have to be, right?" Tristan said.

"It seems like it," Yugi said slowly. "I guess we don't have any choice but to try. . . ." He took a deep breath. "And I'm going to go first."

"We'll both go first," Atem replied. He grasped Yugi's hand. "Let's go."

Yugi nodded.

They both dived in at once, the water splashing high around them and onto the bank. But then they were gone, the clear water showing they had completely vanished.

"Yeah, definitely a magic portal," Tristan remarked. "So let's all hurry in after them." He leaped in without waiting for a reply.

Everyone else began to follow suit, some separately, some grabbing onto at least one loved one.

Seto took Mokuba's hand. "We'll go in together," he said.

Mokuba was perfectly alright with that. "Okay." As he and Seto jumped in, he clutched Seto closer in his nervousness. Who knew what they would find on the other side?

Nesbitt doubted he was able to completely hide how daunted he felt. "We should make sure we stay together too," he said.

"I most certainly agree," Lector replied, immediately gripping Nesbitt's hand and reaching for Crump's.

Crump clutched Lector's hand and also grabbed Nesbitt's, making a circle. "I hope Gansley and Johnson are okay back where they are," he worried.

"I hope we'll get back to them soon," Lector said, "and that they won't end up having to come over here too."

The three of them dived into the portal.

xxxx

Siegfried was tense as he, Leonhard, and Chris stepped through the portal from Yugi's room into the Duel Monsters' dimension. He really didn't know what to expect at all, and from Chris's expression, even she wasn't sure. She held onto her wolf Skye tightly, looking around the area. It was a beautiful place, Siegfried had to admit, and yes, it looked like something out of Leonhard's beloved fairytale books. But it was too quiet. Apparently the enchanted sleep still persisted.

"Where should we go, Skye?" Chris asked.

Skye whined and sniffed the air. As she did, she transformed into her true, Silver Fang form. She stood, snarling at nothing.

"Why does this not instill me with confidence?" Siegfried sighed. He wasn't sure if he thought the wolf was off her nut or if he believed she had found something invisible and dangerous, but either way, he was liking less and less that he had allowed Leonhard to come here. They weren't prepared for such a place, even if Leonhard was a fairytale expert!

"Something's out there," Chris said softly. "Something bad. . . ."

"I really don't think we need you to tell us that, child," Siegfried said.

"Come on, Siegfried, don't be rude," Leonhard pleaded. "We've gotta find where Mokuba and everyone is!"

"The problem is, I am not confident we will find them," Siegfried tensely told him. "I feel I should send you back through the portal, Leonhard. We don't know what we're going to run into here!"

"Siegfried, please let me stay," Leonhard begged. "I'm sure I can help! I really want to try!"

Siegfried sighed, rubbing his forehead. "We don't have the first idea of what to do," he objected.

"Well . . ." Leonhard bit his lip. "I guess all we can do is walk around and look around for anyone who isn't in an enchanted sleep. They might be able to help us . . . or maybe they'd be the bad guy who hurt everybody."

"And then what might he do to us?" Siegfried retorted.

"We'd have to not let him see us until we were sure what side he was on," Leonhard said.

"I am liking this plan less and less," Siegfried said. "Leonhard, I don't approve of putting you in danger!"

An angry churring sound startled all of them. A Kuriboh leaped out of the trees, aiming itself right at Siegfried.

"My word!" Siegfried grabbed Leonhard and leaped out of the way.

Instead of launching itself at him again, the Kuriboh noticed Chris and gave a shrill cry of happiness. It leaped over to her and started snuggling in bliss.

"Well, hello there!" Chris said, surprised by the affection. She petted the creature and it warbled. "So not all the Duel Monsters are in an enchanted sleep. . . . I wonder why he's not. . . ."

"I wonder, why does it like you and abhor me?" Siegfried frowned.

"I . . . don't know," Chris said. "But maybe he can help us figure out what happened and find the others." She looked at Kuriboh. "Can you do that?"

Kuriboh bounced and chirruped.

". . . Hey, I wonder if this is Yugi's Kuriboh," Leonhard suggested. "He got mad at anyone who was Yugi's enemy."

"Hmm. Well, I suppose that makes just as much sense as anything else that's happening around here," Siegfried said. "I do seem to remember him furious at me when I was controlled by Reshef."

Leonhard looked down. "Yeah . . . but that wasn't your fault. . . . You didn't welcome Reshef in like Pegasus did. . . ."

"I know," Siegfried said. "But this creature probably hasn't forgiven me for the Grand Championship catastrophe either."

"That wouldn't be fair," Leonhard objected. "You've tried to change!"

Before Siegfried could reply, Kuriboh leaped away from Chris and bounded ahead.

"Let's follow him and see where he goes!" Chris exclaimed.

Kuriboh flitted off through the air, continually looking back to make sure they were coming. Not sure what they were in for, the von Schroeders, Chris, and Skye followed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes: It's been difficult figuring out how to work the problem that when I first wrote for the Big Five, I brought in a little of the Japanese Crump's dirty-minded behavior, but when I later got to know the characters better and wanted to redeem them all, I didn't want any part of that anymore. Hard for Crump to be sympathetic with that kind of disgustingness. Since the dub Crump thankfully isn't that way, I can pretty much do what I want there and instead make his interest not so gross, which I've tried to do ever since after last year's Halloween fic. But since I'd already treaded there before and have a connected timeline, I couldn't exactly pretend it didn't happen. So he and Téa have definitely needed to talk for a while. I do like how this scene came out.**

**Also, decks can't be used to summon monsters outside of virtual reality. That would be too easy. But thanks to Harry2 for the reminder that I should clarify that again!**

**Chapter Twelve**

"Téa? Yoohoo, Téa! Are you okay?"

Téa groaned as the gruff voice met her ears. For a moment she couldn't remember where she was or what had happened, or who it was talking to her. But then she shifted and felt the heavy body under her. She was sprawled horizontally across someone.

"Oh my gosh!" Téa was up in a flash, completely red as she stared down at Crump. How on Earth had she landed on top of him?!

Crump slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I guess you're okay."

"How . . . how long were you awake?" Téa asked uncomfortably.

"Couple of minutes. . . ." Crump gave her a grin. "Gotta say, that was probably one of the nicest waking-up experiences I've had."

Still red, Téa scowled and looked away. "I'm sure."

Crump sobered. "I didn't do anything with ya, I promise. . . . I just tried to wake you up by calling to you."

Téa sighed but slowly looked back. Maybe in the past she wouldn't have believed him, but for some reason, now she felt like he was telling her the truth. There was no lie in his eyes.

"And I feel like I should also tell ya that when I made all those cracks after I tried to kidnap you to get at Kaiba, I was just teasin' . . . maybe tryin' to make you think I was experienced when I'm actually not. . . . But it was a mess anyway. I'm sorry." Crump got to his feet and held out a hand to Téa.

Téa hesitated. "Were you just teasing when you possessed Kaiba and tried to come at me then?"

". . . Uh . . . well . . ." Now Crump actually looked embarrassed. "Maybe under all that anger and frustration I kinda stupidly thought I'd actually have a chance with you then, if I was in a body that was younger . . . and thinner. . . . But of course I didn't. . . . I know I never would."

Finally Téa accepted his hand and got to her feet. "I wouldn't judge on something like that," she retorted. "But possessing someone else's body without his permission . . . yeah, that's always a no-go with me."

"I wish I hadn't done it," Crump said. "Boy, we were all so messed-up then, and in Noa's world. . . ."

"No arguments from me," Téa said. She paused. "But tell me something. I've been curious about this for a long time. What if I or somebody else really did get in with you? Would you dump us when we started getting old?"

Crump looked more embarrassed. "I like to think that if somebody really got interested in me like that, I'd wanna be with them no matter how old they got."

"Good answer," Téa said. "I hope so too."

"I'll admit I didn't really think anything of ya at first; you were just a way for me to get out of Noa's world." Crump looked at her in all sincerity. "But when we dueled, I liked your spunk and determination. I saw you were something special."

"Well . . . thanks." Téa paused. "You really have changed. I mean, I already knew that, but this is still kind of a surprise." She smiled a bit. "You can actually be kind of sweet."

"Yeah?" Crump perked up a bit.

Téa's smile turned sad and regretful now. "I don't have any romantic feelings for you, Crump. . . . But you are my friend."

"Hey, that's great with me," Crump said. "And more than I ever thought I'd get . . . or deserve."

"It helps that you've proved you deserve it," Téa said. She looked around. "But where's everyone else?!" She and Crump had needed to have this conversation for a long time. She wouldn't have ordinarily chosen to have it now, but after her mortifying waking-up position it had all spilled out. It was a weight off her shoulders to have finally done it, but the longer no one else appeared, the more worried she became.

"I'm wonderin' the same thing," Crump gulped. "I only see you and me! And what's even weirder is that I was holdin' hands with Lector and Nesbitt! Where the heck are they?!"

Téa looked around too. "Guys?!" she called, raising her voice. They were in another strange meadow area, with bushes and trees all around them and no other people in sight.

Finally a weak groan came from one of the bushes. Lector rose up, holding a hand to his head. Nesbitt sat up next to him.

Crump ran over. "Are you okay?!"

"I believe so," Lector said dazedly. "But where did we land?"

"We're still tryin' to figure that one out," Crump said.

All around them, the other missing members of their party began to get up from the bushes. Several more had landed in nearby trees. Everyone seemed to be alright, just confused.

"Téa?" Yugi called as he and Atem got down. "Are you okay?!"

Téa waved to them. "I'm fine!" she called back.

"So now what?" Tristan sighed, jumping down from a pine tree branch. "Any sign of Joey and Serenity and everyone else?"

"I'm afraid not," Bakura said with a sigh of his own. "We'll just have to keep looking."

"Coming to think of it, I'm surprised you didn't go with them, Tristan," Téa said.

"Yeah, well . . ." Tristan shoved his hands in his pockets. "I guess I thought maybe it would be better if I didn't. Seeing Serenity with Duke and all. . . ." He scowled. "Not that I don't wish I was with them now that they've all disappeared."

"I sure wish we could find them before any more time goes by," Yugi sighed.

"Well, now that we're all out of the cave, why don't you try using your cellphone again?" Dartz suggested.

"Oh! Yeah, I should!" Yugi pulled it out and dialed Joey's number. ". . . It's ringing. . . ."

"But he's not answering," Téa moaned.

Seto's eyes flickered, barely perceptibly. "He's probably in some kind of ridiculous situation. But whatever it is, I'm sure he's fine."

"Well, I'm not, especially in this place!" Téa shot back. "Joey could get into all kinds of trouble! And so could everyone else with him!"

"Yeah," Tristan said, his voice gaining an edge. "Joey could have got hurt protecting Serenity! Or he and Valon could have decided to do some stupid stunt! Or they could've both got hurt protecting Mai!"

"Let's hope none of those things have happened," Atem interjected. "But we must stay alert, both to find them and to try to keep ourselves out of more trouble."

Seto just grunted. "Let's get moving then."

He kept his eyes shaded as they headed out. Mokuba looked up at him in concern. "Seto? Are you okay?"

"Fine." But Seto's voice sounded clipped.

"You're worried about Joey and the others too, aren't you?" Mokuba said.

"I'm sure they're fine," Seto insisted again. "Wheeler always has a certain amount of dumb luck on his side."

"Yeah, but . . . it never lasts forever," Mokuba said softly.

"Let's just hope it's lasting now," Marik said. His voice was kind, but worry was in his eyes.

It wasn't long and a crisp breeze began to make its way over the group. Up ahead, the sky looked gray and cold. Snow blanketed the ground.

"So . . . is that Winterland up ahead or something?" Crump blinked. "It's kinda weird to have Spring over here and then Winter over there."

"We don't always have strict seasons in the way you do," Magician's Valkyria said. She sounded strained, worried about her sister.

"And then there are Ice-based Duel Monsters who can cause sudden weather changes too," Timaeus said.

"Just for the heck of it, or do they have good reasons?" Crump asked, looking uneasy.

"That would depend on the Duel Monster," Critias retorted.

They stepped forward into the snow. Here at the edge, it wasn't very deep. But the farther they walked, the deeper it became. Eventually it was partway up their legs.

"At least we're mostly dressed for Earth winters," Solomon said.

"No kidding," Crump exclaimed.

Lector pulled his trenchcoat closer around him. He was cold anyway, having grown up in New Orleans.

Tristan was growing more and more tense. "Joey!" he called. "Serenity! Where are you?!"

Suddenly Marik gasped. "Revival Jam!?"

Everyone jumped. He was staring at his friendly and affectionate Duel Monster, who had been caught mid-bounce and wasn't moving.

"Oh no," Mokuba gasped. "Is he . . . frozen?"

Marik ran over. "Revival Jam. . . ." He fell to his knees, drawing the creature into his arms.

"Marik . . ." Ishizu came over, laying her hands on his shoulders. She knew her brother would be heartbroken if Revival Jam wasn't alright. He was one of Marik's favorites, and he had been such a helpful companion every time he had appeared. She and Rishid were also fond of the cheery being. It was too horrible to think that maybe nothing could be done. Maybe he would be alright, since this was a magic-based world. . . .

After a moment Revival Jam rippled with life, snuggling against Marik. Relieved, the boy wrapped him in the warm coat and stood, holding him close.

"He must have just started to freeze." Marik looked shaken. "Why do I have the feeling this isn't a natural winter?!"

Magician's Valkyria looked tense at that suggestion. "It must be another powerful Spellcaster," she worried. "It could be Blizzard Princess."

"I love that card," Téa exclaimed. "She might be working with the bad guys?!"

"She could be controlled, as I was," Magician's Valkyria said.

"Revival Jam looked like he could have been fleeing from something," Marik worried. "I wonder if he was a prisoner and that's why he didn't greet us when we first came here. . . ."

Rishid nodded. "Some of the good Duel Monsters could have been captured to keep them from fighting back or alerting us sooner."

Revival Jam was now rocking back and forth in Marik's coat. Marik sighed, looking down at him. "I wish he could tell us. . . . But if I let him out for him to lead us to where he was, he'll just start freezing again. . . ."

"Well . . . I might be able to cast a spell to keep him warm," Magician's Valkyria suggested.

"Do it," Critias grunted.

Magician's Valkyria concentrated, holding out her staff. After a moment it started to glow and a warm light surrounded Revival Jam. He jumped out of Marik's coat and into the cold, bouncing over the snowdrifts.

"Looks like it worked!" Mokuba grinned.

"Can you take us to where you were coming from?" Marik asked Revival Jam.

The Duel Monster leaped around, looked back at them, and kept going.

Marik gave chase, everyone else on his heels.

xxxx

Sometime earlier, Joey's group had indeed found the secret passageway and gone through the portal pool. They had also discovered the winter weather, and, realizing it wasn't natural, had set out to discover the reason behind it.

"Man, I don't like this," Joey whimpered. "Why's it suddenly like this?!"

"The most likely reason? A Duel Monster decided to make it be like this," Hermos said.

"Or Elsa," David whispered.

Duke snarked and shook his head.

Serenity might have been amused if she wasn't so worried. "Is it a bad thing?" she asked.

"It's always hard to say," Hermos said. "Sometimes an Ice-based Duel Monster just wants to have fun and doesn't mean any harm. But considering all the problems we're currently having, yes, it could be a bad thing. They could be trying to oppress anyone around who doesn't agree with their Orichalcos scheming."

"And freeze them or something?!" Terror filled Joey's eyes.

"I can't say it's not possible," Hermos said.

"Or maybe it's just a nice, ordinary winter," Valon said. "You do have those, don't you, Mate?"

"Yes," Hermos said, "but they don't usually affect just one part of the land while several yards away the rest experiences another season."

". . . Good point," Valon sighed.

"So what can we do?" Raphael asked.

"Our best bet right now is to regroup," Hermos said. "You still can't reach the others?"

Joey tried again to call Yugi and soon shook his head. "No! It's just not going through!"

"So we need another plan," Alister said.

A gust of icy wind shot at them, nearly knocking them all into the snow.

"Ugh! I did not come prepared for this," Mai scowled.

Hermos looked around with narrowed eyes. "We'll have to try to find the source of the winter. They could be anywhere, but looking in the direction of that blast is a good starting place."

"Then let's do it!" Joey ran forward. "We've gotta get them to turn it off!"

"Only if they're corrupted by the Orichalcos, they probably won't," Duke pointed out.

For a while the group followed the path of the wind and snow. They were apparently going the right direction, as it only grew stronger and fiercer the deeper they went. For the most part they had been traveling on open ground, but now they were following the trail to a thick wood.

"We've gotta go in there?!" Joey quaked in alarm. "Who knows what's lurkin' in there!"

"We'll have to try anyway, Joey," Serenity said. "We need to know what's behind this!"

"I don't like you goin' in there, Serenity," Joey frowned. But he knew nothing would stop her. Anyway, he supposed they needed to stay together and not separate any further. They were already missing two-thirds of their group. He could only hope the others would eventually find the same pathway and catch up.

The woods were dark and even colder. It felt like eyes were watching them, and every now and then some snow would fall off a tree branch just close enough to one of them that it didn't seem like a coincidence. Joey was quickly becoming a basketcase.

Mai wasn't feeling that great either. "Dark creepy woods are never a good sign, are they?" she frowned.

"Not too often," David said.

They had been traveling for some time before the sounds of assorted animal Duel Monsters met their ears.

"Oh no!" Serenity exclaimed. "What's wrong? They sound so upset. . . ."

Hermos had definitely tensed. "They are," was all he said before he ran forward through the trees.

"Hey! Wait up!" Joey yelped. He and the rest gave chase.

Soon they broke through the trees into a clearing and found their answer. Huge crisscrosses of giant icicles were speared up and down into the ground and pointing at the sky, creating large ice prisons. Many types of Duel Monsters were trapped inside the cage-like enclosures between the ice pillars.

"How horrible!" Serenity ran over and reached through the bars to several upset Kuriboh Brothers.

"Don't worry, everyone; we're going to get you out!"

"How?" Valon looked skeptical at best. "It don't look like they even trapped any Fire Duel Monsters in there. They were makin' sure there was no way out!"

Hermos snarled. "There's always a way!" He brought his sword down on the ice. But instead of it slicing through, as he had thought sure would happen, it held fast and vibrated up his arms.

"What the heck?!" Joey cried.

"It's enchanted ice," Hermos realized. "My sword won't cut through it!"

". . . So magic must defeat magic?" David didn't look pleased. "What can be done?"

"Look for a Fire monster?" Joey suggested. "Ol' Red-Eyes could take it down in no time!"

"Not to mention scorch everyone inside?" Duke retorted. "We should find a smaller Duel Monster."

Joey cringed. ". . . Maybe you've got a point." He frowned, taking out his deck. "I just wish I could use this to summon monsters in the real world, but it only works like that in virtual reality." He sighed. "We're just gonna havta find the real thing!"

"I've got a feeling it's not gonna be easy to find any kind of Duel Monster that can actually fix this," Raphael growled. "They've probably been taken care of too."

"No doubt," Hermos agreed. "But we'll have to look anyway." He put his sword away and stepped back. The Duel Monsters watched, growing further distressed that they were being left again. Several reached through the bars to him and Serenity.

"I wonder if someone should stay here with these poor things," Serenity worried.

"I think it'd be better not to split up any more," Duke said. "We still don't know where the others are!"

Serenity sighed. "I guess that's true. . . ."

"They'll be okay until we come back," Duke said.

Hermos nodded. "But we'd better try to come back as soon as we can." From his eyes, he hated to leave the Duel Monsters too. Still, there wasn't any choice.

The others agreed and moved to walk on with him. Serenity still hesitated, petting the Kuribohs before standing. "I promise we'll get all of you out," she said.

One of the Kuriboh Brothers chirred in response.

xxxx

Gansley and Johnson had been tensely waiting at the portal for quite some time when a strange growling brought them both to attention.

". . . I guess there's no chance that was someone's stomach growling?" Johnson gulped.

"Are you suggesting I eat too much?" Gansley grunted, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"No," Johnson said, "but I'm afraid _he_ does!" He pointed in horror at the portal.

Gansley turned to stare. A vicious Serpent Knight Dragon was starting to come through, all teeth bared.

"Oh no you don't!" a new voice screamed.

Both Gansley and Johnson jumped a mile. Mrs. Muto was tearing into the room, swinging a ladle from the kitchen. Before either of them could stop her, she was striking the beast with all her might. It flinched, then roared and snapped at her.

"Mrs. Muto!" Johnson exclaimed. "Let us handle it!"

"I'm not going to stand for this thing coming into my house!" Mrs. Muto shot back. She struck it again. It lunged at her, more ferociously this time.

Finally Gansley stood and physically lifted her up by the waist, setting her down away from the creature. He turned back just as Johnson was starting to blast it with his ring. Quickly he added his own ring to the mix. The Serpent Knight Dragon roared, falling back through the portal as it was hit with both blasts.

Johnson was breathing heavily, badly shaken by the experience. "And I guess that's why we need to stay right here and guard the portal."

Gansley gave a grim nod. "Who knows what else might try to come through." He stumbled and grabbed for his cane again. It had taken a lot out of him both to move Mrs. Muto and then to immediately have to activate his ring. Normally he tried not to overtax himself like that, although occasionally he had no choice.

Mrs. Muto didn't seem to notice. She came back over and peered through the vortex. "And Yugi and my father are still in there!" she cried. "They must be encountering all kinds of horrible monsters!"

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Gansley told her. "They've had experience with bizarre goings-on. You haven't."

"I'd still like to help," Mrs. Muto retorted. "I hate having to helplessly stand by and wait!"

"So do we," Johnson said, "but it's better than battling monsters!"

"You're worried about your friends, aren't you?" Mrs. Muto shot back.

"What?! Of course we are!" Johnson exclaimed.

"Then you should want to help them!" Mrs. Muto snapped.

"Staying here to guard against Duel Monsters entering our world _is_ helping," Gansley growled. "And we really don't want to argue about it."

Mrs. Muto folded her arms, still clutching her ladle in one hand. "I mean to be more hands-on with helping your friends," she said. "Surely you want to be!"

Johnson was no longer looking at her. "Mrs. Muto, look out!" he cried.

She started to turn to look, but the Serpent Knight Dragon coming through the portal grabbed her by the apron before she could. In an instant it pulled the screaming and struggling woman through the portal to the other side.

"Oh no!" Gansley snarled. "Now we have no choice; we'll have to go in after her and pray nothing else comes through here while we're gone!"

Johnson swallowed hard. "And also pray we'll get to her in time," he said with a shudder. He looked to Gansley in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'll have to be," Gansley said. "I don't have time not to be." He started through the portal.

Still worried, Johnson followed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes: Crescent Blue has wanted to see a friendship with Leonhard, Chris, and Mokuba for a long time. I can finally start laying at least the groundwork for that here!**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Yugi was still chasing after Revival Jam as the entire group ran over the snow. The blue Duel Monster bounced over the snow, safe from freezing by Magician's Valkyria's spell. He was on a mission and he was determined to follow it through to the end.

"I wonder what we'll do if he's leading us to the bad guys or something," Crump gulped.

"It's too bad this isn't like virtual reality, where we could just summon monsters from our decks," Yugi said. "We have to find the real monsters to help us. And since this isn't like Capsule Monsters either, they're not just lying around for us to pick up!"

"If the rest of the Big Five were here, we could summon Blue-Eyes and the Five-Headed Dragon with our rings," Seto grunted. "All six ring holders have to be together for that."

"I wonder how Gansley and Johnson are doing back there," Crump worried. "I hope nothing's been trying to come through the portal!"

"Do you honestly believe nothing would?" Yami Bakura retorted.

"I can hope!" Crump insisted.

"Yami, I just remembered that you can make cards come to life," Bakura exclaimed. "If we need to, maybe you can use that power to bring out real Duel Monsters!"

"Perhaps, if the Ring will actually cooperate," Yami Bakura grunted.

At last Revival Jam led them to the same ice cage that Joey's group had seen. He jumped around, silently communicating with some of the Duel Monsters trapped inside.

"Oh no!" Yugi gasped.

Timaeus and Critias each tried to shatter the ice but met with the same fate as Hermos's sword. "We need magic to break this," Critias growled.

Bakura looked to Yami Bakura. "Well, Yami?"

Yami Bakura grunted. "I have monsters with swords, but whether they're the right kinds of swords for breaking this ice structure remains to be seen." He took out his deck and shuffled through it. "The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams!"

The eerie fiend roared as the Infinity Ring's magic made it real. It swirled out of the card and into the scene, bringing its sword down on the icicles. To everyone's relief, they cracked. When the captive Duel Monsters strained against them, they shattered and released the prisoners.

"Hi, guys!" Yugi greeted the freed Kuriboh Brothers.

The multi-colored fluffballs chirped and churred as they danced around Yugi and Atem.

"The original Kuriboh isn't here," Atem frowned. "I wonder if he escaped like Revival Jam."

"Then why haven't we seen him?" Seto wondered.

"Maybe he ran into some of the others!" Yugi suggested. "I wonder what we should do now—go back to look for them or keep moving forward? We might find who's behind all of this. . . ."

"We should keep moving," Nesbitt said. "If we could find who's doing all of this, we could stop them and bring an end to all of this nonsense."

"Unless we don't have enough power to fight them," Lector countered. "Most of these Duel Monsters are small, and they've already been overpowered once. Maybe whatever Yami Bakura can conjure up won't be enough of an advantage."

"Well, it's better than just wandering aimlessly all over the place!" Nesbitt shot back. "Let's at least try to find out who we're up against. Then we can start figuring out how we're going to beat them!"

Lector considered that and nodded. "As long as you don't try charging in without a battle plan."

Nesbitt rocked back, surprised that Lector had agreed. "I won't," he promised.

Yugi looked to the Duel Monsters. "So, guys? Do you know where the one is who did this to you?"

The Kuriboh Brothers chirred in unison and flitted off through the sky. Other Duel Monsters followed on the ground.

"It looks like they have some idea," Solomon said. "Let's follow them!"

Everyone gave chase.

xxxx

It was a while later when the von Schroeders, Chris, and Skye chased Kuriboh to the broken ice structure. Kuriboh flew all around it, chirred, and then exclaimed excitedly.

"I wish we knew what he was saying," Leonhard frowned.

Chris pondered. "I can understand Skye sometimes, but I haven't had much experience with Kuribohs. It's obvious that he's happy about something connected with this broken ice. . . ." She wandered closer. "Look at all the footprints in the snow! It looks like a lot of people were here! . . . And over here where the ice is are Duel Monster footprints!"

"And exactly what does all this mean?" Siegfried sighed, brushing a piece of hair over his shoulder.

"I'm not sure," Chris admitted. "I hope it means Father was here with the others. Maybe they helped a lot of Duel Monsters or something." She looked ahead. "The footprints go on over here! Let's follow them!"

Leonhard nodded. "I hope Mokuba is with that group and that he's okay. . . ."

"Maybe soon we'll find out," Chris smiled.

They walked alongside the footprints, tracking them deeper into the snow. While it wasn't as thick as the woods, there began to be trees growing more numerously on either side of the pathway. The group traveled among them, nervously looking about for enemies while hoping to see friendly and familiar faces.

"Do you know Mokuba well?" Chris asked after a while.

"Kind of." Leonhard rubbed the back of his neck. "We've been pen pals ever since the Grand Championship Duel Monsters tournament."

"It's funny, I live in the same city as Mokuba, but we hardly ever see other," Chris said.

"He's with his brother a lot," Leonhard said. "And with Marik Ishtar and Mr. Lector. . . ."

"I think it's wonderful that he has so many friends," Chris smiled. "But I'm happy I have Skye." She hugged her wolf while they kept walking.

"Do you get tutored at home?" Leonhard wondered.

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "Father thinks it's better that way. . . . He's still not crazy about a lot of things people do and doesn't really like the thought of public school. And . . . well, it's kind of awkward, I guess . . . how I look about twelve but I was a wandering spirit for centuries after the Battle of Atlantis, until we were all granted a second chance. . . ."

Leonhard frowned. "That must have been really hard."

"It was . . . especially watching Father through the years, seeing how poisoned he still was by the Orichalcos. . . ." Chris's eyes clouded over.

"I'm sorry," Leonhard said quietly. "I can . . . kind of understand what that must have been like. . . . At least a pinprick of it. . . ." He didn't like to say much more with Siegfried right there, but he had definitely experienced the utter helplessness of watching someone he loved descend into darkness. He couldn't imagine how Chris had borne it for so long, especially considering how far Dartz had fallen. Leonhard couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like if Siegfried ever decided to eradicate the entire world. Seeing him so obsessed with wanting to destroy KaibaCorp—and later, corrupted by Reshef—had been horrible enough.

"I'm sorry you have to know even a pinprick of what it's like," Chris said.

Up ahead, Kuriboh gave an excited cry.

"He must have found something!" Chris exclaimed.

They picked up the pace, running ahead.

xxxx

The last thing Gansley and Johnson were expecting when they fell through into the Duel Monsters world was to land on the back of the Serpent Knight Dragon as it squirmed and slithered through the sky. Johnson screamed, immediately wrapping his arms around the creature. "Now what?!"

Gansley snarled, curling one arm around it while still holding onto his cane. "Well, we can't blast it with our rings now unless we want to crash."

"Are you crazy?!" Mrs. Muto yelled. She was still flailing while her apron was caught in the dragon's mouth. "What kind of heroes are you?!"

"Naturally we'll have to blast it anyway if it tries to eat you," Gansley shot back. "But we wouldn't even be in this situation if you had let us handle it in the first place!"

"It was my house!" Mrs. Muto snapped. "I had every right to let this _thing_ know it wasn't welcome!"

"If you hadn't enraged it, it probably wouldn't have grabbed you!" Gansley growled. "Now there's no one left to guard the portal because we had to come in here after you!"

Mrs. Muto might have angrily responded, but her attention was swiftly diverted by something below. "There's Yugi!" she exclaimed, pointing down at the ground. "And Dad!"

Gansley and Johnson both peered over the dragon. Far below, many of the others were just catching sight of the beast and staring up at it.

"Oh my gosh!" Yugi burst out. "That dragon has my mom!"

"And Gansley and Johnson!" Nesbitt ran over to be underneath it. "We have to get them down!"

"We could use our rings on it, but we'd rather not crash!" Gansley called down to them.

"Maybe we can intimidate it to land." Seto held up his ring. "Let's summon our signature monsters!"

"What the heck?! What if they decide they'd rather have a dogfight in the sky?!" Crump yelped.

"They'd better not," Seto snapped. "This is your loved ones' best chance. Come on!"

The Big Five were still skeptical, but they realized Seto was likely right. Sighing, they all held out their rings. The six Duel Monsters' elements glowed and merged, opening two great portals in the sky. A familiar roar announced the arrival of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Five more roars brought out the Five-Headed Dragon as well.

Serpent Knight Dragon drew back with a displeased snarl, still clutching Mrs. Muto by the apron. The good dragons surrounded it, forcing it to lower itself to the ground.

"It's working!" Téa exclaimed in relief and joy.

At last the dragon descended into the snow. Gansley and Johnson climbed off, badly shaken, and stumbled to the front, where the dragon finally released Mrs. Muto into Johnson's arms.

"Mom!" Yugi ran over, followed closely by Solomon. Crump, Lector, and Nesbitt were right there as well.

Mrs. Muto got out of Johnson's arms and stood in the snow, trembling. "Yugi - ! Is this the kind of thing you go through on a daily basis?!"

"Thankfully, no!" Yugi hugged her close.

"But we do have a lot of bizarre adventures," Solomon added. "Right now we're hoping to find who's behind all of this madness."

Gansley sighed, leaning on his cane. "Then I suppose now we need to stay with you and hope nothing goes through the portal while we're here."

"Or maybe since everyone is now on this side and there's no one left to come help, we should close the portal," Johnson said.

Atem nodded. "That would probably be best. But then we'll have to make certain not to lose the candle-holder, since it's our only way back."

"Oh, you said it," Yugi shuddered.

Atem concentrated and the candle-holder glowed, closing the portal in Yugi's room.

"Good riddance," Mrs. Muto scowled.

"Well," Johnson sighed, "we'd better get going. . . ."

"But you guys aren't dressed for winter!" Yugi looked from his mother to Gansley and Johnson. "How are you going to travel with us?!"

"I guess we'll just have to deal with it. We weren't really expecting to leave your room, especially on a moment's notice," Johnson said.

"Not to mention we weren't expecting to find winter over here," Gansley grunted.

"Are you both alright?!" Lector demanded.

"We're fine," Gansley insisted, laying a hand on Lector's arm. "But what's going on here?! Why is it winter?!"

Johnson nodded in agreement. "It wasn't at the palace!"

"We're afraid some Ice Duel Monsters may have got corrupted by the Orichaclos and are causing this," Yugi said. "We found a bunch of Duel Monsters trapped, but we were able to set them free."

"I cast a spell to keep Revival Jam from freezing so he could lead us to them," Magician's Valkyria said. "I can do a similar spell on the three of you so you can come with us and not start suffering from the cold."

"It's really worked," Marik said.

Gansley looked skeptical, but he finally nodded. "Very well."

"I guess," Johnson said. "If you're sure that's it's only effect."

"It is," Magician's Valkyria promised.

"If it will let me stay here with my family," Mrs. Muto said in resignation.

New voices joined the throng. Everyone looked up, startled to see Chris and Leonhard waving to Dartz and Mokuba, respectively, as they ran over. Skye ran alongside Chris while Siegfried trailed behind the others and tried to keep up.

"Oh great," Seto muttered.

"Chris?!" Dartz exclaimed.

"Leon!" Mokuba ran to meet his friend. "What are you doing here?!"

"I had to see if you were okay!" Leonhard said. "And Chris wanted to find her dad!"

Chris tore over to Dartz and hugged him close. "I was so worried - . . . !"

Dartz slowly hugged back, still stunned. "Chris, it's dangerous here!" he scolded.

"I know!" Chris retorted. "That's why I was worried!"

Suddenly Kuriboh was flying at Yugi and Atem with shrill shrieks of joy. Yugi laughed and pulled him close. "Hey, Kuriboh! What's going on?"

Kuriboh snuggled him and then looked over his shoulder at the direction he had been flying towards.

"He was taking us somewhere," Chris said. "I'm not sure where. . . ."

"Maybe where the other Duel Monsters have been taking us," Yugi said. "A whole lot of them were trapped. Yami Bakura managed to get them out and I think they're taking us to who captured them."

The other Kuriboh Brothers came back, rushing Kuriboh with excited exclamations. The family danced and warbled before coming back to the situation at hand.

"We still need to find out who's behind this and stop them," Yugi said. "Can you guys take us to them?"

The Kuribohs cheered and hurried over to the other Duel Monsters, who were catching up. After more reunions, they all dashed off in the original direction, calling to the humans and their other Duel Monster friends to catch up.

"Well . . ." Crump sighed. "I guess we've gotta do this. . . ."

"At least we have these dragons on our side, I suppose," Lector mused. He narrowed his eyes as he looked off into the distance. "I don't like this either, but since it has to be done, let's get it over with and go home."

"You realize we might not even be going to the source of the problem," Yami Bakura grunted. "It could just be another poor fool under the control of the Orichalcos, with no information on where the source of the trouble is."

"I know, but we've gotta hope they're at the source!" Crump exclaimed. "We all wanna be done here!"

No one could deny that.

As they kept following the Duel Monsters, they finally came upon several more people in the distance.

"Is that Joey?!" Tristan cried. "And Serenity?!"

Yugi ran forward, his eyes filled with hope. "Guys?!"

Joey whirled. "Yug!"

The groups caught up and more happy reunions followed.

"I knew you couldn't have been swallowed up by that Cave-Dwelling Dragon!" Tristan said in joy.

"What Cave-Dwelling Dragon?!" Joey yelped.

"Is everyone alright?!" Serenity demanded in horror.

"Well, no one's been chawed on," Crump said.

"Hermos!" Critias called. "My brother is alive!"

"What?!" Hermos ran over. "Makarios!"

Makarios grinned. "Hey there."

Chris jumped a mile. "Makarios?!"

The friends ran to each other and hugged each other close. "Oh man, I missed you," Makarios whispered. "I was devastated when I realized you'd died in the Battle of Atlantis. . . ."

Chris clutched him. "And I thought you had died too," she said. "Although I never understood why we didn't see you in the afterlife. . . ."

Dartz smiled. It was good to see his daughter reunited with one of her dearest friends. The fact that Mokuba looked so much like his ancestor was likely also why Chris hadn't tried to make friends with him; it had surely stirred up too much pain to see someone who looked like Makarios yet wasn't.

"Obviously a lot of stories need to be exchanged, but this really isn't the time," Seto flatly interrupted. "If there's any chance of stopping the one behind all this, we need to get on with it!"

"Well, so far we know about a mass enchanted sleep at the castle and this Winter Wonderland here," Yugi said. "Both things a Spellcaster could cause. But . . . is it the same Spellcaster?"

"Maybe the rebels really have amassed enough of them to start taking over this world," Magician's Valkyria worried.

They rounded another bend and found themselves at the top of a hill, staring down at a strange castle in a valley below. It glistened with ice as dark tendrils swirled through the walls and the towers, giving the entire structure an ominous black and purple appearance.

"It's a combination of Ice and Dark powers," Magician's Valkyria gasped. "There's at least two Spellcasters!"

"It doesn't look like it's going to be easy to just walk in there," Mai frowned. "Look at all the Vorse Raiders on patrol!"

"Unless the rebels will still listen to Dartz." Atem looked to the former king of Atlantis. "If they still think Dartz will support them in their goals, they may happily let him and anyone with him inside."

"I'm willing to try," Dartz said. "But by now the rebels may know that I am not in agreement with their goals."

Chris bit her lip. She didn't like Dartz risking himself like this, but it did seem like their best chance right now. If they tried an ambush, they might get overpowered.

Atem sighed. "Let's go down and try to get in."

The group trouped down to the Vorse Raiders with Dartz in the lead. "I need to speak with your superiors," he greeted them.

The Vorse Raiders immediately stepped aside, making a pathway for Dartz and the others. "Please, go right in, Sir," the lead Vorse Raider growled with a bow.

Joey swallowed hard, still nervous about so many Vorse Raiders in such close proximity to them. But they were able to walk through the soldiers peaceably and into the castle.

"This all seems too easy," Gansley grunted. "As Nesbitt says, it feels like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Oh, why would you say that?"

Everyone jumped a mile at the voice.

"No!" Atem gasped. "It can't be!"

"Why not?" The speaker stepped forward in the company of Blizzard Princess, giving the group a cruel sneer. "I think it's pretty ingenious, myself." She reached up, tipping her blue-and-pink hat back on her head with her staff.

"But . . . Dark Magician Girl," Téa protested. "You rule this land! You're Atem's Dark Magician Girl! You would never turn against everything you've fought so hard for!"

Magician's Valkyria stepped forward, badly shaken. "That isn't my sister!" she insisted.

"Of course it's not." Timaeus's eye narrowed. "You're either an imposter or you're speaking through her."

"Well . . ." A poof of smoke. "You caught me!" A maniacal giggle filled the air.

"Oh no!" Magician's Valkyria gripped her staff tighter. "That isn't Dark Magician Girl at all! It's . . ."

"_Toon_ Dark Magician Girl," the impish sorceress sneered. "And you guys are all in for it now!"

"A Toon?!" Atem fell back, his teeth clenched. "But . . . Toons weren't even original Duel Monsters! Pegasus invented the Toons!"

"So he did," said the Toon. "And we came to life because he loved us just that much." She clenched her staff, her eyes flashing. "But we have never been accepted by the other Duel Monsters."

"Because he invented you?" Seto scoffed. "You're not the only modern Duel Monsters."

"That's right!" Nesbitt said. "All the Machine cards are Pegasus's invention! And we know the Duel Monsters accept the Machines!"

"That's not the reason," Magician's Valkyria said. "It's because the Toons are cruel and sadistic and only care about hurting everyone else!"

"Not that I don't agree with that, but there are other Duel Monsters who fit that description too, like the Vorse Raiders," Joey said.

"The Toons have no souls," Critias interjected.

Seto had to smirk. Pegasus would certainly disagree, but Seto sided with Critias completely.

"Oh, we don't, do we?" Toon Dark Magician Girl's eyes glinted. "Well, we'll just see how you all feel after we take over the entire realm and transform all Duel Monsters into their ultimate Toon states!"

"Oh no." Nesbitt stared at the small Spellcaster in horror. "When you were rendered real, does that mean . . . ?"

"All of the powers Pegasus invented for us became real too," Toon Dark Magician Girl nodded. "We're indestructible." She spread her arms wide. "There's nothing you can do to stop our plans! And now that we have joined forces with the Orichalcos, we're doubly untouchable! Any Duel Monsters that don't agree with what we're doing will be corrupted by the Orichalcos and not given a choice in being transformed! They'll learn to love being Toons!"

"I don't want to be anything I'm not!" Magician's Valkyria snapped.

Skye growled in agreement and the Kuribohs shrieked.

Toon Dark Magician Girl paid no attention to the dissenting voices. Her childish laughter echoed chillingly throughout the castle.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Seto's patience was just about at an end as Toon Dark Magician Girl continued to laugh. "If anyone thinks I'm going to take being shown up by one of Pegasus's pathetic Toon monsters, they have another thing coming," he growled. "I found ways to defeat them before and I will again . . . especially if Yami Bakura will help me by making cards real." He looked to the former thief.

"I will most certainly try," Yami Bakura grunted. "I am not particularly fond of Toon monsters either."

"Really?" Tristan raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be all for cute things being demented."

"Oh, I love demented things, especially if it's something you wouldn't expect," Yami Bakura sneered. "But with their dismissal of the laws of physics, the Toons seem to make a mockery out of being demented like they do everything else."

"In some ways, I wonder if that isn't scarier than your serious Zombies and Fiends," Tristan said.

"Yeah! It's kinda like _Happy Tree Friends_ or somethin'." Joey shuddered. "That thing is sick in a way that nothing else is because the things look cute and don't act cute!"

Atem was frowning, only half-listening to the strange conversation. "We know the Orichalcos is part of this madness," he said at last. "What if it's controlling the Toon Dark Magician Girl as well as any other Toons who are participating in this scheme?"

"That makes sense to me," Téa said. "Pegasus's cards were actually helpful to us when Anubis was trying to destroy everything!"

"Yes, but is this Toon Dark Magician Girl the one that belongs to Pegasus?" Yami Bakura pointed out.

Johnson nodded. "Gansley had a theory that there's a separate Duel Monster spirit for every copy of a card that exists. Maybe there's even more than the number of cards, since that would mean there are only four real Blue Eyes White Dragons."

"Well, in any case, we must find a way to defeat her and determine if the Orichalcos is indeed influencing her every move," Atem said.

"And just how are we gonna do that?!" Joey wailed.

"Toons aren't completely indestructible," Seto said. "There's loopholes."

"But you'll have to get through me to try using any of them," Blizzard Princess smirked, "and I promise that isn't going to be easy." She pointed her staff at the group.

Atem stepped out in front of the others. "Everyone without magic or a Duel Monster should get back," he ordered. "We don't want any of you getting hurt if Blizzard Princess attacks!"

"But we want to help too!" Téa protested.

"Try looking for the Orichalcos stash," Yami Bakura suggested. "Perhaps they have built their castle around it."

"Oh, like that wouldn't have a ton of security around it," Joey scowled.

Dartz looked from them back to the two masterminds. "You both surely know that I am not in agreement with your plans," he said. "Even if some of your underlings are unaware."

"Of course," Toon Dark Magician Girl said flippantly. "And we knew you'd eventually come here. We always planned that we'd use the Orichalcos on you once you got here, so you would fall under its spell again."

"No!" Chris screamed in horror.

Dartz took a step back. ". . . Is that why we kept finding Orichalcos stones in the strangest of places?"

"Well, if you'd gotten possessed by one, it sure would have helped our cause," Toon Dark Magician Girl giggled.

"Are you so sure?" Dartz retorted. "I don't recall wanting to spare the Toon Duel Monsters on my reign of terror."

"This particular strain of the Orichalcos loves us," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "We're the ones who will remake the world in our image!"

"And I guess you're possessed by the Orichalcos too or you wouldn't be going along with this nutjob?" Crump said to Blizzard Princess. "I mean, you're perfect right now! Why the heck would you wanna be a Toon?!"

Blizzard Princess giggled. "The Orichalcos showed me it's a great idea. I'll be my best self!"

"And that's what the corrupted Vorse Raiders think about themselves?" Seto snorted. "I can't believe they want to be Toons!"

"Well . . . no," Toon Dark Magician Girl admitted. "The Orichalcos didn't tell them that would be their fate in the new world, only that they would be able to cause a lot of destruction."

"And instead of standing around talking about it, I want to get on with defeating all of you!" Blizzard Princess's staff started to glow.

Without warning she was blasted off her feet and to the floor. The staff flew out of her hands, spinning across the icy surface.

Mokuba darted out, grabbing the staff before she could recover. "You are _not_ getting this back!" he snapped.

Magician's Valkyria glowered at the dazed Blizzard Princess, her own staff glowing from her attack. "Quick! We have to find that Orichalcos stone and get it away from her!" she exclaimed.

Toon Dark Magician Girl just looked amused. "Did you ever hear of an Orichalcos corruption that could be solved that easily?"

"No, actually," Dartz frowned. "That's been bothering me all along. It just hasn't been adding up, because in every other way the stones do act like the Orichalcos."

"But . . . I was corrupted and then saved," Magician's Valkyria protested.

"Or they wanted you to think that," Dartz countered. "I don't believe any of these stones are Orichalcos stones. I think they cast a spell on anyone who picks them up so that they think they're Orichalcos stones." He looked to their enemies. "You couldn't get hold of the real Orichalcos because it's gone, so you used sorcery and trickery to do what would be the next best thing for you. Rebellious Duel Monsters such as Vorse Raiders and Duel Monsters who want to live in peace would fall under the spell and then align with you and your goals, whereas otherwise they wouldn't have been interested in the least."

Toon Dark Magician Girl laughed. "It's awfully clever of you to put it all together like that. I guess we should have expected it of you, Dartz."

"So he's right?!" Joey exclaimed. "There is no Orichalcos?!"

"Well . . . that's a good thing, right?" Valon drawled.

"Maybe, but it would take a powerful spell to make everyone believe the stones are Orichalcos," Makarios said. "I think we've just wandered into a lot more trouble."

Critias snarled. "This is repugnant! The Orichalcos is one of the most evil forces in the world. And you want everyone to think you have it?!"

Toon Dark Magician Girl still looked entertained. "You know, it's pretty ironic. Toons like me are treated like a joke, but I'm the one who created the spell. None of this would be possible if not for me!"

"It's not something to be proud of," Téa shot back in disgust.

"And did you also put everyone at the palace in an enchanted sleep?!" Magician's Valkyria demanded.

"Well, something had to be done with them, and for some reason the stone Dark Magician Girl handled wasn't corrupting her," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "That just seemed like the best solution for keeping them out of the way."

"Not that it's not great it didn't work, but I wonder why it didn't corrupt her," Crump said. "That's pretty weird, isn't it?"

"Maybe she has more protection, being the leader?" Tristan suggested.

"I suppose that's possible," Gansley said.

"I certainly didn't have such protection," Dartz grunted.

"Well, maybe it's a deliberate spell she cast because she remembered what happened to you and she didn't want to risk the same thing happening to her," Téa said.

"I really don't care," Toon Dark Magician Girl flippantly said.

Mokuba was still clutching Blizzard Princess's staff—which was likely the reason why Toon Dark Magician Girl continued to taunt instead of acting, just in case the staff would activate even though Mokuba couldn't manipulate its power. He frowned, pondering on the problem. "All you really want is to be accepted, though, right?" he said at last. "I mean, if the other Duel Monsters didn't shun you or snub you, you wouldn't wanna turn them all into Toons or make them all think they're being taken over by the Orichalcos. . . ."

"They never will!" she spat. "The only way any Duel Monsters will ever respect me is if they're Toons too!"

Téa looked to where Blizzard Princess was stumbling to her feet. "Did even she not accept you until you used a stone on her?"

Blizzard Princess looked away. "No. . . . I was just pretending before; I'm not corrupted by the stones. . . . I just felt bad for my friend. . . . No one ever gave her or the other Toons a fair chance. . . ."

"Well, if you could be more open-minded, others could too," Téa insisted. "This isn't the way!"

"Did you ever think maybe the problem goes both ways?" Joey spoke up. "Okay, so maybe the other Duel Monsters don't really like Toons, but did you ever really think about why? I mean, if all the Toons do is play pranks on everyone else, and that isn't how other Duel Monsters communicate, they probably think all the Toons hate them. It's not a great way to endear yourself to somebody."

"They're just having fun," Blizzard Princess said.

"It's only fun if everybody understands and likes it," Joey said. "If somebody doesn't like it and isn't having fun, they're probably gonna see it like bullying or cruelty and not harmless teasing, especially if they don't already know what you're really like and that you don't mean any harm."

Johnson looked impressed. Joey was smarter than he seemed sometimes. And right now, he was speaking entirely from his heart.

He also seemed to feel more generous than Lector felt like being at the moment. The man's eyes flashed as he looked from Toon Dark Magician Girl to Blizzard Princess. "I can't believe how selfish this whole plan is!" he snarled. "You go through all of this because you don't like being snubbed by the other Duel Monsters?! You could have killed Nesbitt when you corrupted Magician's Valkyria with that stone! He's only alive because she fought against it enough to turn her spell into an enchanted death!"

"He's right," Gansley growled.

Toon Dark Magician Girl looked away, glaring at the wall. "It wasn't supposed to happen like that."

"You never considered that maybe it would?!" Lector retorted. He clenched his fists. "I know my friends and I have done some terrible, very selfish things in our lives, things that could have completely ruined innocent people. We all regret those things now. But if people had died in your scheme, would you have regretted that?!"

". . . I don't know," Toon Dark Magician Girl admitted. "We just didn't plan for anything like that happening. . . ."

"And are all the Toons in on your plan?" Téa asked.

"No," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "Some of them didn't understand the genius of it. They said it would only turn out with heartbreak for all of us."

"But they weren't about to try to stop you either?" Tristan frowned.

"They just went away to let us try," Blizzard Princess said.

"Most of them," Toon Dark Magician Girl said. "A few of them tried to fight us, but . . . we locked them up in the dungeon for their own good."

"Oh, real nice," Tristan scowled.

"Hey, if our plan worked, it would benefit every Toon!" Toon Dark Magician Girl snapped. "They would have seen that!"

"Maybe not, if they really didn't agree with your methods," Chris said.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Toon Dark Magician Girl spat. "I'd say we're at a stalemate here, unless you can figure out how to use that staff."

"I was hoping we could resolve this without more fighting," Magician's Valkyria said.

"We can't," Toon Dark Magician Girl retorted. "I'm not interested in not fighting."

"Then what do we do?" Téa worried.

"A Mind Crush might be a really good idea about now," Joey gulped.

Toon Dark Magician Girl just laughed. "I can block your pathetic Mind Crush!"

"Not to mention that I've never tried to Mind Crush a Duel Monster," Atem said. "I don't even know if it would work."

". . . So if it's really a stalemate, does that mean we have to back away and not accomplish anything here?" Serenity said.

"No!" Nesbitt growled. "We can't let them go through with their plan! We have to stop it now!"

Lector looked to him with a start. "Nesbitt!?"

"I'm not going to do something rash," Nesbitt insisted. He grabbed Blizzard Princess's staff from Mokuba. "But if this is what's giving us our advantage, we should figure out how to use it!" He shoved it at Magician's Valkyria. "Here!"

She took it while still holding her own staff in her other hand. Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl began to back up.

"Set everyone free of your spells!" Magician's Valkyria ordered, pointing both staffs at them.

"We can't," Toon Dark Magician Girl protested through clenched teeth. "They'd all immediately turn on us, especially the Vorse Raiders!"

"You'd both be taken into royal custody," Critias retorted, his voice clipped. "We would fend off the Vorse Raiders and anyone else."

"And what are you so worried about anyway, if Toons can't be destroyed?" Mai frowned.

"I'm not a Toon," Blizzard Princess said. "We might not be able to outwit them long enough for both of us to escape safely."

"You should have thought of that before you decided to go through with your idiotic scheme," Seto snapped.

The two culprits looked at each other for a long moment, silently debating with each other on what to do. While they struggled, Nesbitt held out his ring. "Everyone here who has magic can bombard you all at once," he said. "If you were worried about Blizzard Princess's staff, you should also worry about that plus everything else."

The rest of the Big Five and Seto added their rings and Atem and Yami Bakura stepped forward as well, Yami Bakura sneering at the antagonists. "You would be well-advised to listen to us," he said.

"We can immediately teleport to the palace if you undo your spells," Atem said. "Then you won't have to face the bloodthirsty Vorse Raiders outside the doors."

At last Toon Dark Magician Girl scowled. "Fine." She waved her staff. Immediately outside came the sound of cursing and outraged Vorse Raiders.

Atem used the candle-holder to open a new portal in space. "Come on!" he ordered.

Timaeus and Hermos arrested Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl and marched them through the portal. Everyone else swiftly followed, and Atem closed the portal after them.

Everything was still deathly quiet at the palace. Lector tensed as he looked around. "You didn't undo the sleeping spell!" he accused.

"I can't undo that," Toon Dark Magician Girl insisted. "Only true love can do that."

"Fine!" Magician's Valkyria hurried over the grounds until she found Dark Magician Girl still lying in the grass. Kneeling next to her sister, she brushed the lighter blonde hair aside and kissed her cheek. "Please wake up. . . ."

Dark Magician Girl's eyes fluttered and opened. "Sister? . . . What . . . what happened?!" She knelt up in a flash. "I fell asleep at my post?!"

"It wasn't your fault," Magician's Valkyria said softly. All around them, the rest of the Duel Monsters were waking up too. "We have a lot to talk about."

xxxx

The next hours were filled with activity and explanations. Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl were taken to the dungeon while Dark Magician Girl was briefed on everything that had happened since the sleeping spell had been cast. Kuriboh found Gansley and snuggled him with a happy chirp. Mrs. Muto, still overwhelmed by everything, walked around with everyone and listened to the stories and patted Yugi's Duel Monsters, all the while hoping they would be going home soon.

"You're still going to come back and live with us, aren't you?" Makarios pleaded of Critias.

"Of course," Critias said. "But I wonder if we'll be needed here for a while to take care of the aftermath of this mess. All of the rebels are no doubt confused and many will be angry."

"We'll stay with you for as long as you need to be here," Aegeus said. "We won't leave you again."

Makarios gave a firm nod. "That's right!"

"I hope it won't take too long to set everything right," Dark Magician Girl sighed. "We'll have to gather all the Duel Monsters together and talk to them all at once."

"Oh, and Sister, there's some Toons who were imprisoned in the ice castle because they wouldn't go along with the plot," Magician's Valkyria remembered. "We should get them out."

"You guys and the Toons all really need to have some kind of a heart to heart," Joey said. "Maybe you can sort this whole mess out so that you can all be happy."

Tristan nodded. "There's probably been misunderstandings on both sides."

"No doubt," Gansley grunted.

"I'm going to re-evaluate how I've been handling the Toon situation," Dark Magician Girl agreed. "Maybe I haven't been fair."

"Any who didn't go along with the plan should certainly be accepted, at least," Mai said.

"I agree," Dark Magician Girl said.

"And if our part is done, we should really be getting home," Atem smiled at her.

"Yes, you should." She smiled back. "Thank you so much. . . . All of you. I hope we'll be seeing you again soon, under more peaceful circumstances."

"That would be wonderful," Mako said. "I still hope to see all the things that came to mean so much to my father while he was here. Thank you for preserving his life."

Akio nodded. "We will always be in your debt. And yours," he added, looking to Nesbitt.

Nesbitt went red. "Don't feel like that about it," he grunted, awkward. "I did it because I wanted to protect you."

Atem crafted a portal that would lead back to the Turtle Game Shop. "Let's go, everyone."

They started to troop through in relief. Téa paused, looking back. "What do you think's going to happen to Blizzard Princess and Toon Dark Magician Girl?" she asked.

Dark Magician Girl sighed. "That depends on if they're willing to make recompense. If not, well . . . they'll probably be in the dungeon a long time. But if they are ready to repent, they can join the talks with all the other Toons to try to find a solution."

"Toon Dark Magician Girl still seemed pretty bitter," Téa said. "I'm not sure she's ready."

"Blizzard Princess might listen to reason, though, and she might be able to help her friend," Dark Magician Girl said.

Mokuba smiled a bit. "Friends can really help with stuff like that."

"Yes," Lector said, laying a hand on the boy's shoulder. "They most certainly can."

Mokuba turned and hugged him.

Makarios lingered by the portal. "Thank you so much for reuniting us with Critias, Mokuba," he said. "Speaking of debts, we're all in yours."

"Aww, I just wanted to see brothers get together again," Mokuba smiled. "Brothers should never have to be apart like you guys had to be for so long."

"Still, if there's anything we can ever do for your family, don't hesitate to ask," Critias said.

"I'll remember that," Mokuba said.

It was only after everyone had said their Goodbyes and gone through the portal and Atem had sealed it again that they realized something very important.

"Uh . . . Atem?" Yugi blinked.

"Yes, Yugi?" Atem started to ask. But then he saw. ". . . Oh."

Kuriboh happily bounced in the air with the rest of the Kuriboh Brothers.

"They came over with us," Yugi said with a sheepish grin as he rubbed the back of his neck.

". . . And so did Revival Jam," Marik realized. The blue Duel Monster was weaving back and forth, seeming very pleased with himself.

"Well, it's not the first time they've wanted to visit," Serenity smiled.

"No, but this time the portal is sealed," Atem said. "Last time, it was open constantly so they could move back and forth."

The Kuribohs chirred, while Revival Jam continued to rock.

"I don't think they care," Marik chuckled.

Mrs. Muto blanched. "They're all staying here?!"

Yugi looked awkward. "That's okay, isn't it? Kuriboh's been here before. . . ."

"Yes, but now he brought his whole family!" Mrs. Muto exclaimed.

Yugi rubbed the back of his head. "Well . . . it should be just like having five cats visit."

"Five very long-haired cats," Valon interjected. "You should see the hairballs just one leaves!"

Mrs. Muto looked ready to faint. ". . . They're house-broken, I hope," she groaned. "Otherwise, that portal opens back up right now!"

Now the Kuribohs sounded insulted.

"It's fine," Yugi tried to assure her. "They're really intelligent and they know how to manage."

Mrs. Muto sighed. "If you're sure. . . . I guess we can't really turn them away. . . ."

Yugi smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

Marik smiled as he picked up Revival Jam. "It will be nice to have them back again for a while. And thankfully, we're all here and safe."

Everyone concurred.


	15. Epilogue

**Notes: Thanks to Azalea542 for plot help!**

**Epilogue**

The penguins shrieked, chirped, and trumpeted throughout one of the sanctuary's simulated ice rooms as the Big Five observed and talked at the edge of the pool.

"So I know we all wanna do that legal adoption thing, but I just realized a hiccup," Crump said. "If we do it like Gansley being our dad, then he'll be the legal parent for all of us, and Johnson's parents are still good people. That would kinda oust them unfairly."

Johnson nodded. "That's true. I don't want to hurt them. They're still my parents and I don't want to replace them; I just want to add to my family." He frowned. "I didn't want to say anything and spoil everyone's excitement, but I've been trying to decide what to do myself."

The little penguin from before leaped out of the pool and onto Crump's lap. He started. "Hey there!" He grinned, petting the bird as it shook itself out.

"Which one is he again?" Gansley asked.

"Sammy," Crump said. "I'll make sure all of you can recognize all the birds and their names before the day's out!"

"That's a lot of birds," Nesbitt grunted. "But when we're taking care of them, I know it would be ridiculous not to be able to tell them apart on sight."

George squawked and waddled up to Nesbitt, throwing his flippers around Nesbitt's legs.

"What the . . ." Nesbitt stared down at him.

"Well, I'm sure you'll never have any trouble telling him apart," Gansley said in amusement.

"Awww. That bird is totally hugging you!" Crump exclaimed.

"It does look that way," Lector chuckled.

Stunned, Nesbitt reached down and petted George on the head. "Why would he like me that much? He still don't know me—or any of us—very well."

"I guess he figures he knows enough," Crump said. "He sees you're a good guy . . . like we all do." He grinned.

"I was thinking of something else too," Johnson said. "Our names will legally change with an adoption. That could be strange, considering how we've always thought of each other by our last names."

"I was thinkin' we'd still call each other what we want, and that legally we'd just add Gansley's name after ours instead of using it to replace ours," Crump said.

"That should work," Gansley mused. "But clearly there are some things we didn't think about before that we should devote some time to before submitting the papers."

"I must admit, I hadn't stopped to think about the problem about Johnson's parents," Lector confessed. "I was just thinking how wonderful it would be to have Gansley legally recognized as my father when he actually cares about me, unlike my birth father."

"If nothing else, the two of you should definitely arrange that," Johnson encouraged.

"Or . . ." Gansley paused. "I wonder if we could all adopt each other as brothers, eliminating the parentage problem."

"But then wouldn't either your parents or mine be legally adopting all of us as sons?" Johnson said.

"What if they could all adopt us?" Crump suggested.

Nesbitt raised an eyebrow. "Four parents? Could that even be done? Would they want to if it could?"

"Wouldn't hurt to look into it!" Crump chirped. "And you know what else I was thinking? Maybe when Penguin World opens, we should offer jobs to some of the kids, like working the gift shop and things like that that wouldn't require a lot of animal experience. Do you think they'd go for it?"

"I think they would," Gansley said, smiling a bit. "Téa and Serenity only have seasonal jobs at the mall, so once that ends they might like a steadier income."

Crump nodded. "Téa's always trying to save for dance-related stuff."

"It's a very thoughtful idea, Crump," Lector smiled.

"And some of them, like Serenity, might enjoy jobs that would help them get animal experience, like feeding them or whatever might be available," Nesbitt said.

"Yeah, that's true." Crump leaned back, still holding Sammy. "It'd be great to have people we could fully trust in lots of those positions, instead of having to hire some shady, bitter kids for summer jobs who couldn't care less."

"It's good business and an investment for the future," Gansley agreed. "We can talk to them about it at the party they invited us to tonight."

"With all the disasters we weather, it seems like they're always throwing parties to celebrate coming through alive," Nesbitt grunted.

"Yeah, I wonder where they get the money?" Crump mused. "Do you really think Kaiba would . . ."

"No," Lector said. "Or at least . . . not the Kaiba we knew in the past. He's changed so much since then. All of us have."

"Good changes too," Crump said.

Johnson looked thoughtful. "I wonder if the von Schroeders are still here and were invited."

"I believe they are," Lector said. "I'm sure Leonhard would be invited, and even if only not to be rude, his brother has likely been invited as well."

"I wonder if he'd actually come," Nesbitt grunted. "As far as I know, he still doesn't like Kaiba."

"Probably not, but he usually seems to go where the boy goes," Gansley said. "And even when we still didn't feel that charitable towards Mr. Kaiba, we tended to attend the events we were invited to."

"True," Johnson mused.

"Chris will probably come too," Gansley said. "She and Leonhard seem to be starting a friendship."

"That's good for her," Lector said. "She needs that in her life."

"I wonder if Mokuba will reach out too," Gansley mused.

"I'm sure he will," Lector said.

"And I wonder if Mako's dad will be able to adjust to life in our dimension again," Crump said. "It must be tough after ten years in the Duel Monsters' dimension, if he doesn't remember anything except Mako."

"I don't think he ever specified if he remembered more," Gansley said. "But I'm sure all will be well for them both now that they're together."

"Right," Crump agreed. "But I hope he remembers everything anyway."

Nesbitt thoughtfully nodded. He certainly agreed with that.

"And does anyone else wonder what the heck happened to Pegasus?!" Crump exclaimed. "He just up and vamoosed after that whole Reshef mess!"

"He did send me that letter apologizing for what he did, both then and when he hurt Mokuba in Duelist Kingdom," Lector remembered. "That was certainly appreciated. But it is strange how he hasn't been seen since."

"He'll probably turn up again when we least expect it," Johnson said.

"And it'd better not be an unpleasant surprise," Nesbitt grunted.

Gansley leaned on his cane as he looked around at the others. Now that these problems had arisen with their plans of legally adopting each other, he wasn't positive things would turn out with them actually doing it. But in any case, that was only a formality, a way to announce to the world how much they loved each other. They were every bit as much a family with or without the papers.

He caught Lector's eye and saw that the younger man felt the same. Lector smiled at him and the rest. "I could say how incredible it is that we've all made it out of this mess alive, but we all know that. And I know it's difficult to fully believe what Makarios said about us having long life if nothing violent happens to us, but I still want to believe it is possible. There could be no better future for us than sharing it together all through the years."

Nesbitt gave him a gruff smile in return. "Even if I'm too afraid to let myself believe it yet, it's certainly the future I want."

"So we'll all try to make sure it can happen," Crump said, petting Sammy. "It's a future worth having, so it's a future worth fighting for. And Penguin World will be running for years, providing business for us and good homes for these guys and the others who're coming."

George trumpeted in agreement.

"And no matter how much time we have together, it will be an amazing experience," Johnson spoke up. "But I hope we'll have a very long time."

Nesbitt laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh!" Crump exclaimed. "Did we ever tell you, Nesbitt, that Shadi showed up and told us that he wouldn't have let us bury you alive?"

Nesbitt started. "No, you never got around to telling me that."

"Or me," Lector added.

"There was so much going on," Gansley reminded them. "This is the first chance we've really had to relax since that whole Duel Monsters mess."

"I am certainly glad to know this," Lector said. "Even though I was positive it would be the case."

Nesbitt nodded in firm agreement. ". . . I guess none of you will be able to get over what happened for a long time, if ever." He frowned. "It was worse for you than it was for me. To me it was like I was asleep. I had no idea what was happening."

"No, but you've experienced your share of near-tragedies as well," Gansley said. "You know the horror just as well as we do."

". . . I know," Nesbitt conceded.

"And you're right, I doubt any of us will ever get over it," Lector said with a shudder. "It's not something I can ever forget."

"I'm sorry," Nesbitt said. "I'd take it back if I could."

"We know," Gansley said. "But you did what you had to do, and thank God Magician's Valkyria was able to soften her attack so it could be recovered from."

"But if she hadn't . . ." Nesbitt frowned.

"I don't want to think about it," Lector said fiercely. "I just want to focus on what really happened."

"Sounds good to me," Crump said. But his eyes flickered and he looked down at Sammy, not wanting to show the pain these memories brought him.

"It's easier said than done, though, isn't it?" Nesbitt said to him. "As much as you want to only think about the good reality, it's impossible not to be haunted by the bad possibilities that could have been."

"You got that right," Crump said. He gently hugged the penguin close. "I almost lost one of my best buddies. . . ."

Nesbitt clenched his fists. "And it hurts."

"But we're all together now," Gansley said. "Yes, the bad possibilities will continue to haunt us, but that doesn't mean we're not thinking of the true reality as well."

"That's true," Lector said.

"And we'll always be immeasurably grateful for that true reality," Johnson said.

Everyone relaxed, enjoying the peace of being together with each other and with the penguins who were now part of their family too.


End file.
